A Gaslight Mystery
At a summons from Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, Sarah arrives at the elegant home of famed magnetic healer Edmund Blackwell to find his wife in labor--and the good doctor dead from an apparent suicide. Only Malloy sees what no one else wants to: that Blackwell was murdered in his own home...
After a successful delivery, the Blackwell baby falls mysteriously ill. Relying on her nurse's training and woman's intuition, Sarah discovers the source of the baby's sickness--and discovers a scandal that leads Malloy's investigation down a gilded path paved with greed, deception, and desire...
But as Sarah and a reluctant Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy investigate, fate deals their inquiry a harsh blow. The reverend falls dead during a service--poisoned by cyanide-laced wine in his chalice. Now, they must not only uncover the truth behind the Linton girl's pregnancy, they must track down Upchurch's killer before this entire sordid affair wreaks havoc on more innocent lives...
The Prodigal Son Mission on Mulberry Bend stands as a refuge for girls who otherwise would have to live by selling the only thing they have of value--themselves. The work being done there so impresses Sarah that she volunteers to help out however she can--with clothes, with medical assistance, with the organization of a benefit dinner. And when one of the girls is found dead and refused burial because of her former life, Sarah's passion for justice is aroused.
Reluctantly, Sergeant Frank Malloy agrees to look into the death, if only to keep Sarah from endangering herself by pursuing the matter. But Sarah cannot be kept out of the investigation--and just as Malloy feared, her attempts to find the cause of the unfortunate girl's death in the circumstances of her life put her in deadly danger--from an unexpected source...