York. In the midwinter of 1862, a young woman is found dead by the river, her body marked by a sinister act of mutilation. The mysterious death spreads fear, for this is not the first corpse to be discovered. Speculation grows there is a killer stalking the city’s medieval  streets.

Ada Fawkes. The country’s one and only crime scene photographer. As a woman, in Victorian England, this is a dangerous practice that arouses hostility and accusations of witchcraft and Ada has turned her back on her profession to begin a new quiet life in York. But, she is summoned by Scotland Yard to uncover the truth behind the dark happenings in the old city.

DI Sam Straker. The Yard’s best detective is dispatched from London to work with Ada. He is a man she knows all too well. Straker and Ada have a shared past and his unexpected arrival rekindles traumatic memories of their last investigation, a year earlier in Paris. But they must forget their differences. They know they need their combined skills and experience to solve this mystery. Soon the hunt takes Ada deep into the shadowy heart of the walled city, until – confronted by a murderer prepared to kill again – she realises her worst nightmare is coming true . . . but she is prepared to put her own life at stake in order to stop the killing.

‘Clare Grant has written an incredible debut fiction, which now joins our Black Spring Crime Series, endorsed by UK crime fiction giants, Ian Rankin and Lee Child.’

- Black Spring Press