1864 marks the arrival of a brand new department store right in the shopping heart of oxford street. what owner john gould does not expect, is the presence of a dead man in one of his display windows. how did he get there? and why has gould's store been picked out as a murder location? meanwhile sir hugh and lady meriel wynward are not expecting to hear from their daughter sybella, who died in a railway accident two years ago. so when a letter written in her hand arrives unexpectedly, on what would have been her eighteenth birthday, it throws them into turmoil. what is going on? bleak expectations dog the progress of stride and cully, two officers of scotland yard's detective division, as they embark upon their most complex case so far. the twists and turns of the investigation will lead them into a murky mire of murder and blackmail, and the strange dark underground world of victorian spiritualism. praise for the victorian detectives: carol hedges, in her wonderful victorian detective series, channels the most dickensian of tropes without the overly sentimental, i-get-paid-by-the-word-so-i-never-use-one-where-six-would-do dickensian mush.' barb taub, reviewer 'transports the reader to victorian london: each scene is crafted to perfection.' the lady