Eighteenth century London is a place riddled with poverty and ruled over by a snobbish elite bound up in their own intrigues. Most people have little hope of success but Nathaniel Hopson is lucky enough to be apprenticed to master craftsman Thomas Chippendale and sent to work for the famous cabinetmaker. Chippendale's are installing a new library in the stately home of Lord Montfort. Nathaniel's friend John Partridge has done a lot of work on the book cases but when he mysteriously disappears Nathaniel is sent in his place.
Lord Montfort lives up to his unpleasant reputation and only a few days after Nathaniel's arrival is found shot and killed in the new library. Suicide or murder? There were those with cause to kill the man or the opportunity to do so: his son Robert keen to inherit, his gambling partner Lord Foley who was owed a huge debt, his timid wife, his sister and housekeeper Miss Alleyn. Events take an even more horrific turn when Nathaniel finds John Partridge dead in a lake on the estate, his hand strangely mutilated.
An excellent fiction debut from Gleeson, the wealth of period detail is precise and rich without ever obscuring the story and the intricate plot is confidently handled. Nathaniel's tribulations as he strives to solve the mystery of the deaths are recounted with verve and sympathy.