It's 1896, and the British Empire seems impregnable, with London the glittering center of world power. Thomas Pitt, a man of humble birth who started life as a lowly London bobby, has now succeeded his mentor as head of Britain's Special Branch, the department charged with the protection of the realm against all enemies foreign and domestic. Pitt knows he still has to prove himself up to the job, not only to the powerful men to whom he answers, but also to his own subordinates --- and most painfully, to himself. His mentor Lord Narraway has warned him that his two biggest challenges will be to stop assuming the powerful men are also wise and virtuous, and to accept that there will be situations where he must be judge, jury and executioner.
Pitt has often relied on the assistance of his spirited and intelligent wife, Charlotte, to help him navigate the shark-infested waters of London high society, but now feels he cannot confide the details of his cases to her because of national security concerns. Charlotte is equally sensitive to the demands and pressures of her husband's new job, but determined to help him still in any way she can.
Pitt's first challenge arrives with rumors of a terrorist conspiracy to assassinate Duke Alois Habsburg, a minor member of the Austrian royal family, during a private visit to his royal English relations in London. What Pitt cannot understand is why someone would go to so much trouble to kill the Duke, who is reputed to be a studious eccentric with no involvement in politics at all. Or is this a diversion to distract Special Branch from some far more dangerous plot? Pitt's efforts to investigate are hampered by the refusal of Lord Tregarron, the head of Austrian affairs in the Foreign Office, to take him seriously, until Pitt goes over Tregarron's head to reach the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Charlotte's "aunt" by marriage, the well-connected and politically astute Lady Vespasia is troubled by the suspicious death of an old compatriot from the days of the ill-fated Revolution of 1848, when freedom fighters tried to break away from the repressive Austrian-Hungarian regime in Eastern Europe. Vespasia calls on Lord Narraway for assistance in determining the truth. When it turns out that Serafina was murdered, Special Branch steps in to investigate. Pitt, Charlotte, Lord Narraway and Lady Vespasia are convinced there is some connection between the murder and the assassination plot.
Are all these threads linked somehow? Is there a traitor lurking in the halls of government? And if so, why? Can Pitt and Charlotte discover who is pulling the strings behind the scenes before the unknown assassin makes his move?
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