"The year was 1900, the place was London, and the night, an unusually warm one for September, began and ended with horrors. I was caught up in them almost without warning as I turned into a narrow, poorly lit, cobbled lane and instinctively slowed my pace. Ahead of me, where the passage took a sudden bend to the right, a small gas lamp glowed feebly, and its uncertain, wavering light produced oddly distorted shadows."

Byways to Evil takes the reader through the rich atmosphere of turn-of-the-century London, from the drawing rooms of the wealthy and titled to the dim shadows of narrow lanes populated by London`s poor, as detective extraordinaire Lady Sara and her "secretary" Colin Quick search for the solution to a series of horrendous murders and baffling robberies. Lady Sara`s giant cribbage board, her "Byways to Evil" twists and turns as much as their distorted clues as the murderers and thieves elude discovery.

Plotted by a master storyteller, full of details of turn-of-the century life and crime, this is a satisfying period mystery.