A mysterious illness claims three lives, and Dr. Alexandra Gladstone suspects an epidemic. She is able to save the fourth, but he's found murdered with his heart surgically removed. Constable Snow is at a loss to find the killer and to keep the village from descending into panic. Alexandra's search for the truth takes her to London for a meeting with renowned doctors and with the intrepid nurse Florence Nightingale. Meanwhile, time is running out, and the killer is still at large. It may already be too late to save the ones she loves.

Princess Sophia is fourteen when she is commanded to marry Peter III, heir to the Russian throne. She must change her name to Catherine, change her Lutheran faith to Russiian Orthodox, and she must produce a son. When Peter proves incapable of fathering children, she takes lovers to produce the son or risk losing everything. Her sexual and intellectual passions lead her into court intrigues that prove dangerous enough to threaten her life. She must save herself and Russia from Peter's inept rule and take the throne. Was she guilty of his murder? A rich and compelling story of ambition, love,...