Date with the executioner

Chalk Farm, London, 1817. As the sun comes up on a summer morning, two rivals for the affections of a woman are about to meet at dawn for a duel. Paul Skillen, a seasoned thief-taker, has spent time coaching the inexperienced Mark Bowerman in marksmanship. Paul doubts his pupil will fare well, yet agrees to act as his second.

The duel never takes place. Bow Street Runners swoop in at the last moment, and to their surprise they find Paul, a longtime rival of theirs, among the men they arrest. The confrontation may be over, but the bitterness that drove it erupts again when Bowerman is found stabbed to death in a stranger's garden.

Paul and his twin brother, Peter, set out to bring the killer to justice, racing the Runners to the truth. Their search leads through a tangle of inheritance and betrayal, with a beautiful woman standing at the centre of it all.