London, 1896

Private detective Jane Dowling is asked to go undercover as a maid, by a client who is worried that her brother-in-law has appropriated her inheritance. She discovers a curious household run by a half-gypsy butler. The master and his brother run an agency to send young gentlemen to India, but this has a suspiciously high attrition rate. But Jane is discovered snooping around the house's servant passages. She is framed for murder and spends a month in Brixton prison.

When she gets out she arranges a memorial service for the victims of this agency, but this service is attacked and the master shot. The brother goes on the defensive, a more dangerous character, and it becomes clear there is a wider conspiracy involved, and other criminal agencies. Jane must work with both official and unofficial forces to form a resolution.

This case takes Jane into darker territory. She understands the complexity of the criminal mind more clearly, but this comes at a considerable loss of moral certainty. She meets women from different backgrounds to her own and this opens her eyes to different life pressures. She also comes to rely on allies she previously would not have trusted, and this alienates Joe, her business partner.