The only thing more mysterious than the deaths plaguing her village is the handsome stranger from Edinburgh.

In the village of Harwick in Yorkshire, Catherine Chase seems to be the only person suspicious of a recent spate of mysterious deaths. Two people dropping dead of heart failure is one thing, but when the local doctor declares the same cause of death for sixteen-year-old Ann Claybrook, Catherine believes something else—or someone—killed young Ann.

Meanwhile, a visitor to Harwick—a handsome young gentleman—is causing a larger stir in town than the recent deaths. Mr. Hale has traveled down from Edinburgh, but Catherine is not as enamored with him as the other young women in the village. Especially when she sees him out her bedroom window one night, chasing a strange woman into the woods with a knife. A strange woman who stirred an irresistible longing in Catherine’s chest before the spell was broken.

Convinced something dire is happening, Catherine confides in her cousin Freddie, and together they investigate the enigmatic Mr. Hale. But even Catherine’s imagination could not have conjured the fairy-tale horror that has come to Harwick, and more death is not far behind.

Jane Austen meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this no-spice historical romance filled with banter, danger, monster hunting, moonlit escapades, and fairy tales.