Every spy has a past. But Melanie Suzanne Rannoch is not prepared to meet her husband Malcolm's past literally walking towards them across a candlelit Mayfair ballroom in the person of brilliant, stunning Katelina Ashford, Malcolm's first love. Nor is she prepared to find that Kitty is a former agent herself, who has come to London seeking Malcolm's help. Melanie, who misses her own past as a spy, always relishes the intrigue of espionage. But even as Kitty's secret mission unsettles London society, it leaves Melanie questioning her own assumptions about the man whose name and bed she has shared for seven years.The quest that has brought Kitty to London began in Spain in the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars, but it stretches into some of Britain's most powerful families. From the gritty bustle of Bow Street to the scandalous grottos of Vauxhall, the Rannochs find themselves involved in a search for a mysterious operative known as the Goshawk, a painting that holds the key to unraveling a long-buried secret history, and a fiendishly clever killer working very much in the present. But even as they try to keep the revelations from overturning vital alliances and smashing the lives of their closest friends, Melanie and Malcolm discover the greatest danger may be to their own personal alliance."e;Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna."e; -Deborah Crombie"e;Meticulous, delightful, and full of surprises."e; -Tasha Alexander"e;Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"e;- Lauren Willig"e;A superb storyteller."e;- Deanna Raybourn