Cordelia Frances Biddle

The disappearance of her father, a wealthy financier in 1842 Philadelphia, draws Martha Beale into an alliance with Thomas Kelman as they investigate the case, one that could be tied to a series of ritual slayings of young prostitutes.

"When a headless corpse is discovered on the Philadelphia estate of Joseph Bonaparte, Comte de Survilliers, Martha Beale - the staunchly independent heiress first introduced in The conjurer - is drawn into a sinister world of mistaken identities, missing wives and thwarted desires that transcend social class. What appears to be a solitary case of murder soon takes an even darker turn as complex clues implicate rich and poor alike"--back cover.

Her mother's dying words throw Catha Kinsolving Burke into a 70-year-old Hollywood murder mystery.