Dr. Peter Ainsley knew it was only a matter of time before London claims another murder victim, but this time the body is discovered tied to a lamppost four doors down from the house Ainsley shares with his sister and their bedridden father. The day the body is discovered, a maid of their house and Ainsley's lover, Julia Kemp, fails to return home from errands in the city.Convinced the body found in Belgravia and Julia's disappearance are related, Ainsley follows leads that point him to an infamous bookman, Thaddeus Calvin, known as much for manipulating boxing outcomes as he is for his violent temper. Fiercely protected by the neighbourhood he extorts, Thaddeus is like a ghost, so deeply feared even Scotland Yard is unable to charge him for his crimes.When another young woman's body, a housemaid like Julia, is discovered floating in the river Ainsley hastens his desperate search to discover Julia's whereabouts before she too becomes just another murder victim found in the Thames.

A former journalist and graduate from Humber College's School for Writers, Tracy L. Ward has been hard at work developing her favourite protagonist, Peter Ainsley, and chronicling his adventures as a morgue surgeon in Victorian England. When not writing or reading, Tracy can be found in her vegetable garden or rescuing cast-off quilts from local thrift stores. She lives near Barrie, Ontario with her husband, two teenagers and an intellectually-challenged Cocker Spaniel named Watson.