A WOMAN RIPE WITH DARK, SENSUAL SECRETS FLEES FOR HER LIFE ... A BRILLIANT MAN ENCASED IN THE MACABRE WORLD OF THE DEAD AND DYING WHO WANTS HER ... A FLEDGLING KILLER TESTING HIS WINGS ... AND AN INSPECTOR WITH HIS UNLIKELY ASSISTANT WORKING TO HUNT THE KILLER DOWN. It is a dark, macabre and Gothic world that Miss Edith Appleby flees as a man who no longer wants her alive hires a groomed killer to do the job. But Edith has a plan, it requires a forged medical degree, one she plans on stealthily acquiring from the dangerously alluring Dr. Anthony Vaughn, Edinburgh's most eminent forensic surgeon. Never had a woman climbed under his skin and burrowed so deep as his new staff member, Miss Edith Appleby. She carried a light that banished the darkness creeping into his soul. It had been a long time since he thought he could trust someone, since he let anyone close, she clearly had secrets but how bad could they really be? Inspector Morrison and his newly acquired assistant, Master Brody, are assigned to a case officials fear is the Ripper returned or a copycat killer. Neither are surprised at the mode of killing, they have seen his tests and trials fished out of the Thames and know he's just getting started. Moreover, bigger powers are at play behind the killings; men of power with networks in every branch of public office, every political party and every prominent family tree; men who may be impossible to find and impossible to stop. 'Holland takes readers once again on a tantalizing tour through the darker side of Victorian England...' ~ RTBookReviews 4 STARS HOT for The Painted Heart prequel to PAINTED TRUST