'Inspector John Joseph Lintott of Scotland Yard... Quiet of dress and manner, his respectability could not be doubted, but he was no gentleman... He had risen from the ranks slowly, and knew the dark side of London... One might kill Lintott, but one would never deter him.'

Pursuing villainy amid the fog and gaslight of an immaculately drawn Victorian London, Lintott was the lynchpin of three novels by Jean Stubbs: Dear Laura (nominated in 1973 for the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Award) being the first.

When Theodore Crozier is found dead the neighbourhood hopes the cause may be suicide, if only to spare further pain for both his dutiful wife Laura and beloved brother Titus. However there is more to the matter - a whisper of murder. Lintott is assigned to investigate, and gradually drags all manner of hidden secrets into light.