When Gabriel Fyre’s father disappears in the night, the only things left behind are questions.
A locked workshop. A hidden key. A scarab that should mean nothing. And the memory of a strange, mournful flute drifting through the fog.
The police seem strangely reluctant to investigate. Respectable men insist that Lazarus Fyre was mad. Others claim he has simply gone away. But Gabriel knows his father — and he knows when adults are lying.
His search draws him from the gaslit streets and crowded wharves of London into a world of secret societies, coded ledgers, disappearing cargo and men determined to keep certain discoveries buried.
Along the way, Gabriel finds unlikely allies: a fearless girl beneath the gallows, a blind knife-sharpener who sees more than most men with sight, and a young Chinese woman whose own family has become entangled in the same dangerous web.
And then there are the widows.
Thirteen women gather behind closed doors.
Thirteen cups are placed upon the table.
And somewhere in London, an hourglass is turned.
Gabriel is learning that finding the truth is not the same as understanding it.
A clue can be genuine and still lead you in the wrong direction.
A friend can betray you and still be your friend.
And sometimes the people who claim to be protecting you are keeping the greatest secrets of all.
Some secrets are hidden in darkness.
Others are hidden in the light.
