As a deadly cholera pandemic burns its way through Victorian London in the winter of 1866, a trailblazing female physician and a skeptical Scotland Yard detective reluctantly team up to stop a sadistic killer in this dark, atmospheric, historically rich mystery for readers of Andrea Penrose and Deanna Raynourn.

“Enthralling debut. . . Mystery, pulse‑pounding suspense and a budding romance. More, please!”—Mary Jane Clark, New York Times Bestselling Author

When a vengeful, sadistic killer terrorizes London twenty years before Jack the Ripper will stalk its same streets, an unlikely duo is prompted to investigate: one of Britain’s first female physicians, Dr. Julia Lewis, and Scotland Yard’s Inspector Richard Tennant, a Crimean War veteran with lingering physical and psychological wounds.

November 1866: The grisly murder site in London’s East End is thronged with onlookers. None of them expect the calmly efficient young woman among them to be a medical doctor, arrived to examine the corpse. Inspector Richard Tennant, overseeing the investigation, at first makes no effort to disguise his skepticism. But Dr. Julia Lewis is accustomed to such condescension . . .

To study medicine, Julia had to leave Britain, where universities still bar their doors to women, and travel to America. She returned home to work in her grandfather’s practice—and to find London in the grip of a devastating cholera epidemic. In four years, however, she has seen nothing quite like this—a local clergyman’s body sexually mutilated and displayed in a manner that she—and Tennant—both suspect is personal.

Days later, another body is found with links to the first, and Tennant calls in Dr. Lewis again. The murderer begins sending the police taunting letters and tantalizing clues—though the trail leads in multiple directions, from London’s music halls to its grim workhouses and dank sewers. Lewis and Tennant struggle to understand the killer’s dark obsessions and motivations. But there is new urgency, for the doctor’s role appears to have shifted from expert to target. And this killer is no impulsive monster, but a fiendishly calculating opponent, determined to see his plan through to its terrifying conclusion . . .

Patrice McDonough is a former educator who taught history for more than three decades. A member of the Historical Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Historical Novel Society, she splits her time between New Jersey and the Florida Gulf Coast. Please visit her online at PatriceMcDOnough1789.com.