In the shadowed halls of power and madness, only the bold dare search for the truth.
1890's Melbourne. In the flickering gaslight of Victoria Parliament's inner chambers, a prized symbol of government—the ceremonial Mace—disappears following a night of decadent indulgence involving parliamentarians and officials. Lady Edith Black, a former thief turned Melbourne's most unconventional investigator, is drawn into the mystery. Though her past remains hidden, her talent and determination is unmatched—and her instincts tell her the Mace is merely the tip of something far darker.
The night the Mace disappears, a young woman is discovered near death. The two crimes intertwine and lead Edie to the foreboding gates of Kew Asylum, where her closest friend, Britina—a novice nun assigned to care for patients—has made a disturbing discovery: patients are vanishing without explanation. When Britina becomes a risk to a sinister plan, she is swiftly silenced, declared criminally insane, and locked away among the very souls she sought to protect.
To rescue her friend, Edie must step into the asylum's grim world of medical secrets, patient abuse, a chilling conspiracy… and enemies willing to kill to keep their secrets buried.
