1867 - Morgue surgeon at one of London's most prestigious hospitals, Dr. Peter Ainsley is familiar with the smells of the dead and the dying but when the brilliant, young doctor is summoned to a small English town in the north his ability to keep his patients at a cold, comfortable distance is put to the test. Convinced the untimely death of a twelve year old girl, Josephine Lloyd, was an act of poison, Ainsley and the local physician Dr. Bennett must battle the wealthy and stubborn Lloyd family to gain access to the body of the girl, knowing an autopsy is their only chance to detect what ended the young girl's life. Even as her older sister, Lillian, languishes in bed fearing the poison will take her as well, the family remains obstinate. When Dr. Bennett is found dead in his own house, the rebellious Ainsley has no choice but to take matters into his own hands if he is to save the life of the beautiful Lillian Lloyd. Be advised, in keeping with British tradition, this Canadian author has chosen to use "-our", "-re" and "-ize" spellings throughout the manuscript. These are not proofreading errors.

Peter Ainsley's mother, Lady Charlotte Marshall hasn't been seen or heard from in three days. While Inspector Simms of Scotland Yard is 'unofficially' investigating her disappearance, Ainsley and his sister, Margaret, are loathed to reveal knowledge of their mother's affair despite it being their best lead to her whereabouts. When Insp. Simms brings a body to St. Thomas Hospital's morgue, Ainsley is forced to admit his double life as morgue surgeon and second heir to the Montcliff earldom. With a new found ally in the police force, Ainsley gains access to information about his mother's disappearance and a new mystery regarding a murdered woman with childhood ties to his future sister-in-law, Evelyn Weatherall. Scandal threatening two sides of Ainsley's family, the young surgeon uncovers an intricately woven tapestry of deceit, lust and a crime that forces him to decide whether family loyalty supersedes the letter of the law.

“Half of the bodies brought to my morgue are that of children, dead from starvation, exposure or wounds inflicted on them in life.” - Dr. Peter Ainsley London 1868 – The newspapers call him The Surgeon, a killer targeting pauper children in Limehouse district leaving their bodies discarded in death as they were in life. Discouraged by the lack of physical clues Dr. Peter Ainsley joins Scotland Yard's Inspector Simms as he scours the city to learn where the children came from and how they fell into the clutches of one of London's worst criminal minds. When clues emerge connecting the children to a foundling school, the matron's son, Elliot Holliwell falls under suspicion but without enough evidence Simms and Ainsley are forced to monitor him from a distance. Frustration mounting, Ainsley throws himself into his work apprenticing an orphaned boy in the trade of morgue porter but when the adolescent fails to report to work one day Ainsley can no longer hold back and decides to approach his number one suspect with or without Scotland Yard's blessing. Nothing during his medical training could have prepared him for what he finds and when Ainsley finally catches up with the child killer neither of them will ever be the same.

Unable to shake the oppressive atmosphere of the city after a life changing case, Dr. Peter Ainsley retreats to his family’s country estate near Tunbridge Wells to find asylum and perhaps forgiveness. The discovery of a strange girl in the back woods introduces him, and his sister, Margaret, to the peculiar Owen family with a questionable reputation in town rooted in nefarious gambling activities and a long family history of discord amongst townspeople. Soon Margaret discovers her unexpected new friend, Ivy Owen, who talks to herself and is prone to angry outbursts, is with child and the question of the unborn baby’s paternity lingers. When a catastrophic barn fire leads to a man’s death Ainsley is forced out of his refuge and back into the work that once toyed with his sanity. Haunted by ghosts of his past and forced to relive moments that scar him still, Ainsley begins to piece together a disjointed puzzle of family strife, loose morals and questionable sanity. One thing is clear, however, he must find the killer and bring him to justice before they all end up in the asylum.

Dr. Peter Ainsley knew it was only a matter of time before London claims another murder victim, but this time the body is discovered tied to a lamppost four doors down from the house Ainsley shares with his sister and their bedridden father. The day the body is discovered, a maid of their house and Ainsley’s lover, Julia Kemp, fails to return home from errands in the city. Convinced the body found in Belgravia and Julia’s disappearance are related, Ainsley follows leads that point him to an infamous bookman, Thaddeus Calvin, known as much for manipulating boxing outcomes as he is for his violent temper. Fiercely protected by the neighbourhood he extorts, Thaddeus is like a ghost, so deeply feared even Scotland Yard is unable to charge him for his crimes. When another young woman’s body, a housemaid like Julia, is discovered floating in the river Ainsley hastens his desperate search to discover Julia’s whereabouts before she too becomes just another murder victim found in the Thames.

Summoned to Edinburgh after another inexplicable vision, Dr. Peter Ainsley and his sister, Margaret Marshall, are shocked to discover their good friend, and Margaret’s secret lover, has been arrested for murder. Dr. Jonas Davies, a celebrated surgeon and newly appointed professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, was found at the grisly scene with the bloodied surgical knife at his side, but both Ainsley and Margaret know that is hardly enough evidence to convict a man. With a police inspector determined to prove Dr. Davies’s guilt and his medical colleagues distancing themselves from the nightmare, it falls on Margaret and Ainsley to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that their friend had no motive to kill his fellow professor and didn’t perpetrate the crime. As the investigation moves forward, however, it becomes clear it won’t be enough to convince the court Dr. Davies didn’t kill the professor. They have to find the person who did, along with enough evidence to convict him before the Scottish judicial system sentences Jonas to hang.

Recently married and awaiting the birth of her first child, Margaret Davies takes a position at Wendall Hall, a privately funded charity for unwed, expectant women in a small town east of Edinburgh. With Christmas around the corner and a number of birthing rooms empty, Margaret and Wendall Hall founder Violet Bane turn their attention to the babies in the nursery, ensuring they arrive at their adoptive homes in time for the holidays. Their Christmas preparations take an unexpected turn, however, when a body is discovered in a snowbank outside the Hall’s side door the day following a harrowing storm. It doesn’t take long for Margaret to realize not everything is what it seems at the benevolent charity. Decades-old secrets lurk in the shadows of the old manor house, secrets that go far beyond penniless women trying to hide their scandalous pregnancies, secrets Violet Bane had meant to take to her grave.