Months after a devastating discovery about the murder of her family, Leonora Spencer is still struggling to cope. She has kept her distance from Scotland Yard—and from Detective Inspector Jasper Reid—just as she has vowed to do. But when a bomb kills a young constable outside police headquarters, and a prominent suffragist is wrongly fitted for the crime, Leo is compelled to prove the woman's innocence—even if it means working with the detective inspector she no longer trusts.

Weathering Leo's silent fury has been more of a hardship than Jasper would care to admit—especially to her. He's muddled through by putting his head down at the Yard and focusing on his demanding caseload. But when the persistent morgue assistant begins to interfere in another detective's high-profile inquiry, Jasper is torn between warning her off as he should, or lending a hand.

As ties between the bombing and a seemingly unrelated murder case Jasper is investigating begin to emerge, so does a connection to one of London's most dangerous organized crime syndicates. Leo and Jasper's hunt for the true mastermind behind the bombing plot has drawn unwanted attention from the East End gang, along with a dire warning: Solving this murder will come with deadly consequences.