Dark secrets. Perplexing murders. A tangled puzzle. Leeds, 1826. Thieftaker Simon Westow is watching Frederick Fox - a local crook who recently returned to Leeds with his wife after receiving a mysterious pardon from the gallows. With the help of his assistants, Jane and Sally, Simon tracks the Foxes to a property in the city - and discovers a body. What is the connection between the dead man and Fox, and is there a link to Fox's imprisonment?When a brutal killer strikes again, Simon struggles to make sense of the chilling mystery. Nothing adds up as he is drawn into a twisted maze of murder and deception.

Can he solve the conundrum before more deaths occur?'Vividly evokes the atmosphere of nineteenth-century Leeds and keeps the plot tense and twisty throughout' Booklist 'Well-drawn characters, plentiful historical details, and a real feeling for Leeds in all its gritty glory' Kirkus Reviews on Them Without Pain.