Killigrew RNForty years after its abolition, the Transatlantic slave trade is more lucrative than ever; even the new steamships of the Royal Navy are powerless to catch the swift brigs of the slavers. Only one man is ruthless enough to beat the slavers at their own game. Risking death and disgrace, Lieutenant Kitt Killigrew infiltrates the crew of a slave ship to discover the whereabouts of the biggest slave market on the coast of West Africa, owned by shadowy

and then later

a monster who torments all those who seek to bask in his glory

The third storyline is about the inhabitants of the Abbey and a threat to their safety

Lester hopes

It can't just stop happening

He had been summoned there

are faced with a case of extraordinary complexity as they discover the Berowne family's veneer of prosperous gentility conceals ugly and dangerous family secrets

Philippa Palfrey fantasizes that she is the daughter of an aristocrat and a maid

Ray Celestin's Palace of Shadows can lay claim to having at its centre the most Gothic House of them all

and later a second death

The invasion of France is under way and the British Navy has called upon the services of Major Richard Sharpe

one of her biggest fans is a cop