In the summer of 1874, Tom and Helen Ansell have been married for only a few months. Tom is a young lawyer while Helen is writing a 'sensation' novel which will make her name and fortune. But the couple fall into a real life drama when they become involved in the murky realms of spiritualism and stage magic, two worlds which are violently at odds. The action switches between London and Durham, from seances and scenes of levitation and finally to real danger when the famous medium Eustace Flask is found dead and it seems as though Helen herselfmight have committed murder. Of course she has not, but proving it will put the couple at the mercy of a killer who is both ruthless and ingenious.