Ruler of the Night (Thomas and Emily De Quincey, 3)

In 1855, England's first train murder occurs when a gentleman is stabbed to death in a locked first-class passenger compartment. Thomas De Quincey, a noted opium-eater, and his daughter Emily discover the body in the adjacent compartment. As witnesses and investigators, they work with Scotland Yard detectives Ryan and Becker to track the killer through London's fogbound streets, where additional murders follow. De Quincey must pursue the case while battling his own opium addiction, which threatens both his life and his well-being. The investigation unfolds against the backdrop of the railway's transformation of English society—a technology that has shortened distances between cities but also introduced new dangers. This novel concludes David Morrell's Victorian mystery trilogy featuring the De Quincey characters, blending historical fact with fiction set in nineteenth-century London.