Currently, Al Drayson is on trial for planting a bomb meant to kill philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, instead killing several passersby including a young boy. On the night before the jury is to get the case, Judge Hugo Jackson is found murdered in his Gramercy home, a white rose and a Bible left as calling cards. Sinclair was a dear friend of Jackson during law school and is called by Jackson's widow to help investigate. Sinclair in turn calls Ziele who, against the wishes of the police commissioner, begins to investigate Jackson's murder. This includes analyzing the death threats the judge received during the course of the trial and an odd piece of mail, a manuscript that looks to be some sort of cipher.

With the help of another judge friend of Sinclair and Jackson's, the cipher is solved and the next morning Judge Porter is also found dead, though in a different manner than Jackson, the same white rose and Bible left behind. Ziele begins to feel Sinclair is not telling him information Ziele might need to solve these murders. As a third death occurs, Ziele finds himself working his way into anarchists' meetings, and much to his displeasure, one name that keeps coming up as a ring leader is Jonathan Stuppe, the brother of his beloved fiancee.

Knowing the grief Stuppe must be carrying, but not wanting to see harm to come to him, Ziele reaches out to the family he once thought might be his own, bringing up the pain, grief and guilt that Ziele had hoped to put behind him after Hannah's death. With the help of the lovely Isabella, Sinclair's widowed daughter-in-law, Ziele navigates Lower Manhattan's grittier side looking for a murderer, hoping not to find one that is too close for comfort.

Accurately rendered, Pintoff takes the reader through the streets of turn-of-the-century Manhattan and into the privileged enclave of Gramercy Park with equal ease. She carefully crafts a plot that not only has all the hallmarks of a great mystery, but also offers more insight into the characters of Ziele and Sinclair and allows Ziele to spend time with Hannah's parents and perhaps put a little more of the tragedy behind him.

Both Ziele and Isabella have suffered great losses and together are forming tentative bonds as they slowly emerge from their grief. This is a first-rate historical mystery that gracefully combines personal and public tragedy with a clever plot and compelling characters.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry