Of course, thought Miss Parkington-Smith, her wild nephew, Francis Shelbrooke, came from the bad side of the family. Now he had married Cassandra, that scandalous actress, with her flaming red hair and sparkling green eyes. Francis' grandfather, her dear papa, would never have allowed it. But what Miss Parkington-Smith does not notice is that the London of 1750 is not what it was when she lived with and cared for dear papa. Around her neat little house have sprung up slums, filled with highwaymen, cut-throats and prostitutes. A brutal outside world, about to burst into the elderly spinster's life with terrifying violence. And that is when her disreputable Shelbrooke relatives decide to lend the respectable Miss Parkington-Smith a hand. They see that her dogged respectability could prove the death.