A promising debut that we hope turns into an exciting Victorian spying and sleuthing series. 1884. An unexpected letter from the Prime Minister, Gladstone, sets Sir Roger Evesham on a deadly adventure in an attempt to foil a plot aimed at bringing down the British government.
In Autumn, 1884, 10 Downing Street, London. Roger Evesham, a young Oxford graduate is unexpectedly summoned by Prime Minister Gladstone to investigate a gunpowder-plot that could have shaken the very root of Queen Victoria's government. During that time Roger has been suffering from an incurable emotional pain as his fiance Amelia has abandoned him for Charles, Roger's friend. Roger accepts Gladstone's offer believing that it might help him to erase his emotional ache. As the investigation progresses Roger finds himself in the place of his late father who too, during his long service to government, was engaged in a similar case of gunpowder-smuggling that ended with the smuggler's suicidal death before he could be questioned by the police. But are these two affairs connected? Or does this descend from a forgotten past? As Roger continuously tries to save himself from the murderous attempts on him, he suddenly discovers that the clue to this mystery is connected to none other than a man whom Roger knows very well.
