In volume 4 of the series, Charles Dickens is asked to talk to a female prisoner at Newgate who has been apprehended for the murder of a doctor. She seems in a state of shock and won't speak. Dickens' kindness draws her out, and he feels she is innocent so takes his concerns to Superintendent Jones. The investigation into the doctor's murder soon start to unearth a terrible underground trade in babies for sale and illegal abortions which are often bodged and result in the woman's death. Even more horribly, it seems the doctor made a practice of drugging and sexually assaulting poor women he was supposed to be treating, and at least some of the abortions are the result of these rapes. Meanwhile, a section of London is beset by a strange person or creature that the locals fear and refer to as Satan, and concern for the safety of a possible witness to the doctor's death draws Dickens, Jones and other friends into danger.

This was a dark story with fewer of the lighter touches of the previous tales, but still very absorbing. A section where Dickens and his friends are separated and attacked in a dark, no-go area of London is particularly affecting. A thoroughly enjoyable read which I have no hesitation in awarding 5 stars. ( )