London, 1890:
It's a New Year, but murder never takes a holiday.

The past reaches out to the unlikely investigative team of Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe when a man she was once engaged to marry seeks her assistance to find his young runaway son.

However, a simple case of following the clues left behind becomes far more as the search unravels her former fiancé’s secrets.

A drunken laugh, a roll of the dice... and Aurora Sprague finds herself a child bride, married in haste to a young man she's never met to settle her father's gaming debt. Moments after the ceremony, the new groom gallops off to the army and Aurora is banished to a remote estate, married in name only.

What is real or only an illusion?

Ghostly images that appear and float across the stage, objects that levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant who disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance.

Is it real? Can the audience believe what they see?

Edith wants only one thing: to become a surgeon like her father. Who has time to make friends when she has anatomy books to study? Who wants to go to a ball when she has medical conferences to attend?

Peregrine, Perry to his friends, doesn’t share her enthusiasm for books. He’s the brother of the Earl of Ravenscroft, titled, and powerful. Studying? Why would he need to study? He’s the spare. With no title comes no responsibilities.

The handsome, deceiving lord was not the man Victoria believed him to be, but Victoria must wed—immediately!

To rescue her family from financial ruin, lovely Victoria Shelby has no choice but to marry. Her options for a bridegroom are limited...until she remembers the shy servant boy next door. Then she discovers that her childhood friend is actually Viscount Thurlow—ruthless businessman, future earl, and a man whose family is shrouded in scandal.

Penniless and alone, Octavia Hadley finds herself forced to accept a position as governess to an orphaned girl living with her English diplomat guardian in faraway Russia. But when the diplomat abandons them as Napoleon’s army marches into Moscow, Octavia is determined to get both herself and the girl to safety.

Who is this man?

The Duke of Thanet may have hired Meriel Shelby as a governess to his six-year-old son, but there is something…different about the man standing before her today. He seems to study her with an intensity she never noticed before, and he is certainly more charming than the last time they met. Was there always an alluring glint in his dark eyes?

The British Museum gets one more corpse than they bargained for as doors open for their new Egyptian exhibit.

Excitement is palpable among London Society as the opening of the exhibit draws near. An invitation-only affair, it will be attended by the likes of the Queen, foreign dignitaries, and high-placed people in society, which most certainly includes Mikaela Forsythe and her great aunt, Lady Montgomery.

Louisa Shelby's carefree life of elegant balls and beautiful gowns ended when her father died, leaving her penniless. With no hope of securing a proper marriage, she accepts a position as a companion to an elderly viscountess. But temptation in a most unexpected guise awaits Louisa in the dowager's home...

Determined not to follow in the footsteps of his weak-willed wastrel father, Adrian, Lord Marquand, has designed a life for himself based on order and reason . . . and a passion for creating the most beautiful gardens in England. However, he must keep his true identity as England’s most acclaimed landscape designer a secret. But when his father gambles away Adrian’s beloved ancestral estate, he’s sure all is lost . . . until he’s offered a way to win it back.

1889

With the wild chase for the late unlamented duke's diamonds finally over, business is booming for Flora Flowerdew's seance society, but she's bored with summoning ghosts with the help of her psychic Pomeranian Chou-Chou.

Eight years ago, a usurping uncle drove Melisende and her father from their beautiful mountain home. Since then, Melisende has had one goal: find the document proving her father the rightful Grand Duke of Merania. The last step of her search brings her to London, where one unexpected obstacle stands between her and her birthright—Philip Devlin.