Estranged from her aristocratic husband through her failure to produce an heir, Lady Fieldhurst resolves to repay his neglect by taking a lover.  Fate takes a hand when she and her paramour enter her bedchamber and find Lord Fieldhurst lying on the floor--with her nail scissors protruding from his neck.
 
Idealistic young Bow Street Runner John Pickett has spent most of his career chasing petty pickpockets.  Nothing in his experience has prepared him for low dealings in high society--or for the beautiful widow who is his chief suspect.