Some flowers mean love. Others mean danger.
In Regency Bath, flowers speak louder than words. Someone is using them to lie.
Clara Hartwell makes her living writing the fashionable language of flowers books favored by Bath’s society brides. With a careful arrangement of violets for devotion, camellias for admiration, or striped carnations for refusal, a bouquet can express feelings society would rather leave unsaid.
For women who cannot always speak their minds, flowers have become a clever secret language.
But when a young errand boy is found dead by the river with a list of false flower meanings in his pocket, Clara realizes someone in Bath is twisting that language into something dangerous.
Determined to uncover the truth, Clara joins forces with Bath’s thoughtful new coroner, Dr Gideon Bell, a man who notices far more than he says and who is not easily fooled by polite society’s careful appearances. As the two follow a trail of coded bouquets, whispered scandals, and carefully planted lies, Clara begins to suspect the murderer may be hiding in the very circles that commission her work.
Complicating matters further is Adrian Vale, a charming perfumer whose interest in Clara may be more than professional. His knowledge of scent and symbolism could either help her solve the mystery or lead her straight into danger.
In a city where every bouquet carries a message, Clara must decide which meanings to trust and whether her own heart has been mistranslated.
Perfect for readers who love:
- historical romance with mystery
- strong, clever heroines
- slow-burn romance
- found family
- Victorian flower language and secret messages
Because in Bath, a single flower can say everything.
Or hide a deadly lie.
