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1817. Dawn breaks on a summer�s day in Chalk Farm, London, and the scene is set for a duel between a lady�s ardent admirers. Fearless thief-taker Paul Skillen has been teaching Mark Bowerman how to shoot properly, and although Paul is not sanguine about his clumsy pupil�s chances, he stands as his second. At the last moment the duel is broken up by Bow Street Runners. They are overjoyed to include Paul, one of their enemies and rivals, in the arrest. However, despite the interruption, the passions behind the duel seem to spill out into the full light of day when Bowerman is stabbed to death in a stranger�s garden. Paul and his twin, Peter, are determined to see justice done and a race against the Runners begins, where the brothers must pick a path through threads of inheritance and treachery, with a beautiful woman at the heart of the web.