Rumors swirl -- is it the hand of the "Elf King" behind the sabotage of Nicola Tesla's network of aether towers?
King Edward's Secret Service calls out Kate Cameron's husband Dougray out to investigate. Kate follows -- and watches in horror as her husband plummets into the churning surf at the tower's collapse. Worse, the stranger beside her slow-clapped as Dougray plunged to his death. What kind of monster does that?
Kate turns to demand an explanation -- but he's gone. Surely the glib gentleman knew something, planned something -- surely he killed her husband Kate Cameron, twenty-first century healer turned dowdy Scots wife, will unleash her fury and hunt him down
But how? The card he handed her He lives -- and will die -- in Paris Newly widowed Kate Cameron will pursue Errol Koenig to Paris, learn why her husband had to die, and serve justice on his killer
Aided by those she meets, including Winston Churchill, P G Wodehouse, Mata Hari, Ars ne Lupin, Nicola Tesla, and Kemal Ataturk, she pursues her prey across Europe to Constantinople and beyond, travelling by Orient Express, Tesla's aethership, automaton Janissary, and xebec.
Kate's chase is unrelenting -- but somehow her moment to end Koenig's life never arrives. Could that be because of his strange allure that draws her in, despite her rage? What powers does this man of mystery have? Could he truly be the Elf King?
And what of his whispers? Her husband survives, and recuperates even as they confront -- could he possibly be telling the truth?
Answers strike in a duel atop an ancient castle on a dark and stormy night. Of course.