Smith is a man who knows when to say no. He avoids the cases where he'll never get paid. The cases for which no resolution is possible. And, most of all, the heart-rending cases. The ones that start with the tear-filled eyes of a mother, a sister, or a friend. The ones that haunt a man. The ones that push him to his limits. He says no before he gets pulled in, and he doesn't look back. His wife, Beatrice, however, does not. And thus begins the adventure that will push their love to the limits and cause them to risk everything that matters. And this time, they don't have their friends to help them along the way.

Smith knows a lot of things. He knows about crimes and why they occur. He knows where to find the best pint of ale and the coffee houses that cater to the criminal class. He knows where to find people who don’t want to be found. And he has—somehow—come to know about the lives of the spoiled and well-connected. What he doesn’t know is how someone even he finds objectionable has also slithered into the lives of his friends. Nor does he know when they became friends or why he’s worrying about them. Or what to do about their antics when it comes to his enemy. He only wishes he were surprised when his wife, Beatrice, knows exactly what to do.

Smith doesn't pretend to be anything but a man of blunt opinions and a fierce heart. His wife, however, is far gentler, far kinder, and somehow able to see the best parts of him. Then along comes someone who knows him. And that person is obsessed with Beatrice. Obsessed with a woman who seems to make all the worst parts of Smith better. Obsessed with a person who could love someone like him. It turns out that Smith's heart is fiercer and more dangerous than even Smith knew, but only when Beatrice is at risk.

Smith has been asked to help with a case that no one wants to work. A girl’s gone missing and the most likely suspect is one of the Scotland Yard men. He’s not a man to give a pass to police officers, but this will open himself, his wife, and his friends up to potential danger depending on who’s involved. Now the question is, what will it take for him to find the girl. How far will he go to catch the killer before Scotland Yard finds proof of the many, many laws he has broken? Or maybe Scotland Yard will turn on Smith and the tenuous peace between them will be broken. It’s a race of skill and trust as Smith tries to keep his family safe and Beatrice tries to keep Smith alive.

It turns out that Smith has an old lover. She’s beautiful and talented. She has big eyes and a trembling lip, and she’s turned those on Smith. To Beatrice’s surprise, she’s the one who agrees to the case. To Smith’s surprise, Beatrice becomes his one-time lover’s advocate. Bea's support doesn’t change when his lover is accused of a grisly murder. Instead, Beatrice dives into the case and pulls Smith after. Now they'll have to work together to help the only other woman Smith might have loved.

There are a lot of things that have been said about John Smith that his wife and friends would believe. Accuse him of a crime, and Beatrice would consider it. Accuse him of a great act of kindness, and she’d consider that too. She’d suspect him of almost anything. She didn’t expect him to try to scare her. To pull out her inner coward and make her flee. Who is the coward? Beatrice for being spooked or Smith for hiding the truth? And just what is actually going on?

It has been quite some time since Smith’s quarry has eluded him so fully. A woman was murdered in his home, he’s removed his family to Jack and Vi’s house, he’s pulled in all his friends to help, and he still can not find the engineer of his friend’s death. Only, the noose has been tightening. The traps have been laid, and now Smith will have to win against one of the cleverest villains he’s had to track down. All while ensuring he doesn’t lose anyone else. Join Smith on his most fraught journey yet and discover the person who has thwarted him thus far.

In this short novella, Smith and Beatrice have been taking a break since the horror of their recent adventures. They lingered in the country over the holidays, and then, rather than returning to London, they linger some more. Bea even drags Smith to the town where her family lives. When they’re approached by a woman who wants peace of mind, they find themselves agreeing. The goal was to ease back into their regular life, give this woman the answers she needed, and maybe save themselves from the brutality of London life a little longer. They should have known better.

There's nothing like a woman. Beautiful, saintly, clever, plain. It doesn't necessarily matter. But a pernicious woman. One who spreads poison, who wrangles, who manipulates, who controls, who looms too large—that is a special kind of beast. And she's missing. When Smith and Beatrice go looking for her, they're faced with the question of whether it isn't better to fail. Maybe they don't want to be good at their work. Maybe they don't want to find her. Maybe they want to save those she torments rather than the missing woman.

Smith and Bea are back in London, and Smith might well be back to his old ways. Bea’s instincts are screaming, and Smith is disappearing. Something is certainly amiss, and he doesn’t want her meddling. He really should know better.