In 1903 Philadelphia, new technologies and modes of transport are turning the city into an industrial powerhouse. Clara Shaw, a paid companion for wealthy ladies, is transforming too—and discovering a surprising aptitude for solving murder . . .

Clara Shaw is uniquely equipped both by disposition and connections to flourish as a lady’s traveling companion. Her late father was a yardmaster for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and she is a distant relative of the prominent Biddle family, which gives her just enough pedigree to satisfy high-society mamas. And though she’s a confirmed spinster at 30, Clara is still young enough to be a trusted confidante for their daughters.

She’s also shrewd and observant, qualities that come to the fore when a detective appears at her door early one morning. A woman has been found strangled in a second-class passenger car in the rail yard. Clara’s name and address were on a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Clara recognizes the victim—a young woman named Sophie whom she encountered at the Horn and Hardart Automat, arguing with a gentleman. Could he have been Sophie’s murderer?

Though Clara’s meeting with Sophie was brief, she sensed a connection and feels she owes it to the woman to see justice done. Sophie, it soon turns out, was not at all what she appeared. As Clara delves deeper, her skill at navigating different levels of society will be a decided asset, but she’ll need luck and tenacity too, in order to derail a killer’s deadly plan in the City of Brotherly Love . . .