Paris, 1796. Aristide Ravel, freelance undercover police investigator, is confronted with a double murder in a fashionable apartment. The victims are Celie Montereau, daughter of a very wealthy family, and the man who was blackmailing her.
Celie's enigmatic and bitter friend Rosalie points Aristide towards Philippe Aubry, a young man with a violent past who had been desperately in love with Celie. But the evidence says otherwise and, despite his reluctant falling for Rosalie, Aristide suspects she knows far more than she will say.
When the evidence starts to point to Rosalie herself, Aristide knows he must find out who Rosalie is protecting and why, before he can get justice for Celie and save Rosalie from the guillotine.
From Paris's gritty back alleys to its glittering salons, through the heart of feverish, decadent post-revolutionary France, Aristide is led into a puzzle of hidden secrets, crimes of passion, and long-nurtured hatreds.
The prequel to A Treasury of Regrets.