Accompanying Sherlock Holmes to an ill-omened house in south London, Dr Watson is startled to find a dead man whose face is contorted in a rictus of horror. There is no mark of violence on the body yet a single word is written on the wall in blood. Dr Watson is as baffled as the police, but Holmes soon uncovers a trail of murder and lost love.

When Holmes and Watson receive a cipher from one of Moriarty's henchmen warning of dark doings at a manor house, they find themselves on the trail of a murderer. Almost immediately, they are on their way to Sussex where they discover a corpse with its head blown to pieces. But all is not as it seems. For the origins of this case lie in America.

Second in Laurie King's acclaimed Mary Russell mystery series: 'Beguiling variation on Sherlock Holmes sequels!civilized, ingenious and engrossing' -- Literary Review

Third in Laurie King's popular Mary Russell crime series: 'Beguiling variation on Sherlock Holmes sequels!civilised, ingenious and engrossing' -- Literary Review