When Kit goes to a dance class she is hoping simply to take her mind off her studies. Soon it looks like Joe, a stranger she meets there, might do more than that. But when Kit uncovers a mystery involving the young Charles Dickens and the slaughter of a prostitute known as The Countess, she is sucked back in to the world of books, and discovers how Dickens became tangled up with this horrendous crime.

About the Author

Rebecca Gowers is the author of The Swamp of Death (Hamish Hamilton), the true story of a fatal showdown between a late Victorian conman and a corrupt detective, shortlisted for the 2004 CWA non-fiction Golden Dagger Award, and of a debut novel, When to Walk (Canongate), longlisted for the Orange Prize, 2007.

Reviews

'A genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery linking Dickens to the gruesome murder of a prostitute ... Fresh and clever and very funny.' Guardian