"When a headless corpse is discovered on the Philadelphia estate of Joseph Bonaparte, Comte de Survilliers, Martha Beale - the staunchly independent heiress first introduced in The conjurer - is drawn into a sinister world of mistaken identities, missing wives and thwarted desires that transcend social class. What appears to be a solitary case of murder soon takes an even darker turn as complex clues implicate rich and poor alike"--back cover.