It is April 1794, Clementia Hiscott, aspiring gothic author and granddaughter of Lord Blandbourne, has just hosted her greatest social achievement – a masque ball which, she is sure, was a wonderful success. Feeling free and reckless, at dawn, she cavorts through the extensive grounds of Blandbourne House. Coming on the estate’s folly, she sees something horrendous: the apparent brutal slaughter of one of her guests. Shocked, Clementia struggles to comprehend what she has witnessed; what it means. In a time when rationality is only slowly chasing off superstition and a young lady’s thoughts might be filled with fantastical imaginings, can she be sure it was fact or was it just a vivid hallucination brought on by alcohol and narcotics? Was the perpetrator simply a man in costume or had he truly come from Hell? Despite her privileged position, Clementia soon finds she risks being restrained if she continues to delve into what might have occurred. As she battles to hold on to her sanity, but with the aid of friends, she is driven to persist in digging up what has actually happened. Against all the obstacles, can Clementia win through and bring the culprit to justice?

Alexander Rooksmoor has been writing historical crime fiction for over twenty-five years, based on a career researching and teaching history. This novel straddles two popular genres, of psychological thrillers and historical drama set in the Georgian period and will interest and intrigue those seeking a different setting for the kind of dramas usually only found in the context of modern day, with all the opportunities and constraints for action that the society of the time permitted.