AUTUMN 1923

Chief Inspector Richard Owen dresses carefully at his house in Chiswick. He is due to meet Lady Camille Divine at Café Bonbon, a well-known nightclub, after a six-week separation when he decided to visit his late wife’s relatives in the South of France. He is due to go back to work at Scotland Yard after a two-month sabbatical, but he and Camille have some unfinished business.

When they last saw each other in Paris they were parted before Richard had an opportunity to tell Camille what was on his mind. Camille’s cook, Knolly, had been taken ill at Camille’s house in Duke Street in London. Camille had been desperate to return to England to see Knolly, her cook and one of her dearest friends, to ensure she got the best treatment. Richard knew how much she cared about her staff and reluctantly said goodbye.

Six weeks later and they’re both back in London. It’s the perfect time to tell her what he’d so wanted to tell her in Paris, but an incident at the Café Bonbon where a cigarette girl is murdered seems as though it will thwart his intentions yet again. Will Richard get the chance to tell Camille about his past, or will their involvement in another murder mean he won’t get the chance to discover if Camille, the woman he has fallen in love with, is the woman he hopes she is. Will she accept his past life, or will she walk away?