Winter of Shadows

Ada Fawkes is Britain's first forensic crime scene photographer. It's 1862 and her skill is a new science that arouses shock and hostility. To some it's witchcraft. Seeking a new start after working on a grisly murder case in Paris, which left her mentally and physically scarred, Ada has moved to York. She wants nothing more to do with crime, but then three young women in her new home city are found dead in mysterious circumstances. Ada is reluctantly persuaded to abandon her York portrait studio to once again take photographs to help catch a serial killer. To make matters worse, she must work alongside Detective Inspector Sam Straker of Scotland Yard, her former lover and a man she never wanted to see again. As they join forces to hunt the murderer, Ada finally reveals to Straker the dark secret she had hidden from him. She miscarried his baby after being viciously attacked by the murderer she was hunting in Paris. After Ada discovers the shock identity of the murderer stalking the ancient streets of York she faces a dilemma. Does she abandon her new life to be with Straker? Or remain alone in York to forge her career while also using her camera to expose the perils and poverty many women there faced each and every day? The Winter Of Shadows is the first in a series of novels featuring Ada Fawkes. Her second adventure will see Ada confronting an even darker side to Yorkshire life, set against the beauty of that county's magnificent Dales and moors.