The Murderer's Cloth

Investigators Goddard and Bixby are struggling to make ends meet in a city still shivering in the wake of Jack the Ripper.

Stabbings are up, bludgeonings are common. Bixby and Goddard are currently struggling to find work in the overbearing shadow of Holmes who, at this time, is enjoying well-earned public and royal notoriety. Goddard's wife is inexplicably "away" and the ledgers are swiftly falling into the red.

The desperate pair is eventually forced into kidnapping a woman from the streets at the behest of her father, a Viscount.

It is during this first, clumsy assignment that they meet Hypatia, an uncommon woman with a common occupation. Risking the wrath of her powerful family, Goddard and Bixby must put their reputation and their lives on the line to protect her.

But Goddard has kept something from his business partner and it is this secret that could bring them all to a bloody end. While Bixby reluctantly takes Hypatia with him to investigate other cases, Goddard's erratic behaviour back in London begins to worsen.

With the help of Hypatia, Bixby must not only find the missing woman and ensure the continuation of the investigative agency, but save his friend from facing certain death at the hands of a brutal assassin. 

'I can't get a blasted thing done in the square mile without him taking all the good jobs, buying up the last of the magnifying lenses – not that he needs them – and cosying up to the Realm every chance he gets.'

'There are other jobs,' Bixby said.

'I want his. All of his. All the ones he gets! They pay better!' Goddard tore at the crumpet with his teeth and ferociously chewed, butter glistening on his chin and a large dollop of jam sliding off the side of his mouth like a snail making its way south.

~ The Murderer’s Cloth