Edgar Award finalist Victoria Thompson colorfully portrays the prejudices and hardships of turn-of-the-century New York City. Called to Chinatown to deliver a baby, midwife Sarah Brandt soon helps search for a missing girl. But nobody seems to know where she is. Has she been sold to a brothel, or has she run off with a secret love?

When an explosion kills wealthy industrialist Gregory Van Dyke, police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt presumes that anarchists are responsible and personally asks detective sergeant Frank Malloy to track them down. Malloy is up to the task, but he faces a different kind of challenge when he encounters Sarah Brandt paying a condolence call on the Van Dykes. Faced with the impossibility of ever expressing his true feelings for Sarah, Frank had vowed never...

When a family friend's traumatized daughter is accused of murdering her new husband, newlyweds Sarah Brandt and Detective Frank Malloy investigate with the assistance of household members and uncover sinister truths about the victim's true identity.

Malloy takes up the unsolved murder of Dr. Brandt, but the shocking revelations he uncovers may destroy Sarah-- and Malloy's hope for any future with her.

When a monster named Isaac McQueen -- taken down by Eve back in her uniform days -- escapes from Rikers, he has two things in mind. One is to pick up where he left off, abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. The other is to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago.