Jane Jakeman is back, with her signature "crisp, vividly evocative prose, interesting people, arresting plot, and unusual background."* More consuming than any mystery is Lord Ambrose's ardor for a down-on-her-luck governess. To have her hand would bring him untold joy, but when she refuses his proposal, Ambrose smarts from the pain-and has a premonition of something awful.

Governess Elisabeth has taken up a post as companion to Lady Jesmond when the family doctor is poisoned to death. It looks like a suicide, but couldn't be. Elisabeth knows that the one person capable of solving this mystery is Ambrose. And soon, he too is embroiled in the sinister goingson at Jesmond Place.