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 sinisterâŚ
âShepherd shines again in this superb Victorian thriller.â - Publishers Weekly starred review
âSo evocative of mid-Victorian England⌠An absolute must.â - Daily Mail
â[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.â â Kirkus Reviews starred review