In the dying days of 1850, the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet's literary legacy. When a chance discovery raises doubts about the death of Shelley's first wife, Harriet, he starts to question whether she did kill herself - or whether what really happened was far more sinister…

“Shepherd shines again in this superb Victorian thriller.” - Publishers Weekly starred review

“So evocative of mid-Victorian England… An absolute must.” - Daily Mail

“[Shepherd] takes the familiar story of the Shelley family and fills in the holes in the historical record by turning it into a clever, imaginative and literate mystery.” – Kirkus Reviews starred review