Sequel to: A Christmas carol murder

Includes a book club reading guide

When his initiation into the Lightning Club takes a murderous turn, Charles Dickens is accused of the crime and is locked away in Newgate Prison where he must rely on his fiancé and her sleuthing skills to save him from the hangman's noose

London, January 1836. Weeks before the release of his first book, Charles Dickens is intrigued by an invitation to join the exclusive Lightning Club. His initiation in a basement maze takes a wicked turn when he stumbles upon the corpse of Samuel Pickwick, the club's president. With the victim's blood literally on his hands, Charles is locked away in notorious Newgate Prison. It is up to Kate to keep him from the hangman's noose. Forced to puzzle her way through a fiendish series of baffling riddles sent to her in anonymous poison pen letters, Kate must keep her wits about her to corner the real killer. -- adapted from jacket