‘Enthralling, exciting, extraordinary and utterly convincing.Everything a great book should be’ Sarah Hilary‘Wonderfully atmospheric, each page carries the whiff of sulphur and gaslight’ RedEveryone has a secret...Only some lead to murder. Introducing Leo Stanhope: a Victorian coroner's assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own futureWhen the body of a young woman is wheeled into the hospital where Leo Stanhope works, his life is thrown into chaos.Maria, the woman he loves, has been murdered and it is not long before the finger of suspicion is turned on him, threatening to expose his lifelong secret. For Leo Stanhope was born Charlotte, the daughter of a respectable reverend, but knowing he was meant to be a man – despite the evidence of his body – he fled his family home at just fifteen and has been living as Leo ever since.Desperate to find Maria's killer, he now stands to lose not just his freedom, but ultimately his life. ____________________SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE____________________