Investigative team Blake and Avery find themselves entangled in a case involving political conflicts, personal vendettas, and Englandโs first celebrity chef.
London, 1842. Captain William Avery is persuaded to investigate a mysterious and horrible death at the Reform, Londonโs newest and grandest gentlemanโs clubโa death the club is desperate to hush up. What he soon discovers is a web of rivalries and hatreds, both personal and political, simmering behind the clubโs handsome faรงade. At the center is its resident genius, Alexis Soyer, โthe Napoleon of food,โ a chef whose culinary brilliance is matched only by his talent for self-publicity.
But Avery is distracted, for where is his mentor and partner in crime Jeremiah Blake? And what if this first death is only a dress rehearsal for something far more sinister?