London, 1930. A headless corpse; an apparent suicide in a locked room; a man burned alive during an illusionist's show in front of thousands of people. Scotland Yard is baffled by the sequence of ghastly murders unfolding across the city and at the centre of it all is mysterious heiress Rachel Savernake. Daughter of a grand judge, Rachel is as glamorous as she is elusive. Jacob Flint, a tenacious young journalist eager to cover the gruesome crimes, is drawn into Rachel's glittering world of wealth and power. But as the body count continues to rise, Jacob is convinced Rachel is harbouring a dark secret and he soon becomes part of a dangerous game that could leave him dancing at the end of the hangman's rope if he pursues the truth.
Sheila Mitchell's gravelly timbre is well suited to this circuitous historical mystery set in 1930s London. In it nothing is quite what it seems. Grisly murders that occur throughout the novel are delivered with a tone of detachment that adds an additional layer of anxiety to the disturbing subject matter. Mitchell leans into an Estuary English accent for the young journalist Jacob Flint, which sh
