From New York Times bestselling author Tasha Alexander, a spectacular novel of historical suspense featuring the strong-minded and spirited Lady Emily Ashton

At her friend Ivy's behest, Lady Emily Ashton reluctantly agrees to attend a party at the sprawling English country estate of a man she finds odious. But the despised Lord Fortescue is not to be her greatest problem. Kristiana von Lange, an Austrian countess once linked romantically with Emily's fianc , the debonair Colin Hargreaves, is a guest also. And a tedious evening turns deadly when their host is found murdered, and his prot g , Robert Brandon--Ivy's husband--is arrested for the crime.

Determined to right a terrible wrong, Emily embarks on a quest that will lead her from London's glittering ballrooms to Vienna's sordid backstreets--and into a game of wits with a notorious anarchist. But putting Colin in deadly peril may be the price for exonerating Robert--forcing the intrepid Emily to bargain with her nemesis, the Countess von Lange, for the life of her fianc .