November 1878. London is shrouded in a fog as thick as ink, a chilling backdrop for a macabre scene unfolding within the hallowed halls of the Royal Academy of Arts. Young artist Thomas Mc Kenzie lies dead, his body a grotesque parody of Millais’ Ophelia, his blood a gruesome pigment on the canvas beneath him.
Widowed art instructor Amelia Bellweather finds herself at the heart of this chilling tableau, the first brushstroke in a canvas of terror that will soon engulf the city. Across London, similar scenes emerge, each echoing a famous watercolor painting, each victim linked to a scandalous exhibition lost to flames thirty years prior – an exhibition that ruined Amelia’s late husband, art critic Edward Bellweather. Now, his ghost, both metaphorical and literal, haunts her, urging her toward the truth.
Hardened Scotland Yard Inspector Charles Henry, initially dismissive of the artistic nuances of the murders, finds himself drawn to Amelia’s sharp intellect. Their unlikely partnership, a blend of artistic sensibility and pragmatic deduction, becomes London’s only hope. Their investigation plunges them into the gaslit streets, from opulent Mayfair drawing-rooms to the shadowy corners of Whitechapel. They uncover a clandestine network of art forgers, led by the enigmatic Brenda James, whose talent for replication is surpassed only by her cold-blooded ambition. They encounter Lady Elizabeth Goodman, an aristocratic widow whose elegant facade masks a desperate secret. And they unearth the tragic story of Darryl Wyatt, a brilliant artist whose obsession with beauty warped into something monstrous.
Amelia discovers her husband’s hidden diary, revealing his suspicions about the fire and a conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of the Academy. But Edward’s pursuit of truth cost him dearly, and Amelia realizes the killer is not just recreating paintings, but Edward’s investigation, using his notes as a morbid guide. The line between investigator and hunted blurs as Amelia and Charles are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
The climax arrives during the Academy’s winter exhibition, a grand affair attended by London’s elite. The killer’s ultimate target is not another individual, but the Academy itself, a symbolic act of destruction aimed at obliterating the institution that buried the truth. In a heart-pounding race against time, Amelia and Charles must confront the mastermind and prevent a fiery inferno from consuming the Academy and everyone within. Can they expose the secrets of the past before it’s too late, or will they become the final brushstrokes in the killer’s masterpiece of revenge?
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