Young widow Annabel Chalfont, Countess of Fellbridge, has two small sons to raise, a mountain of her late husband's debts to pay off, and a secret: she's a shadow-shaper, able to manipulate shadow as anyone else might clay. She and six other high-born ladies with equally extraordinary abilities defend England against supernatural crime—but the world knows them only as the Lady Patronesses of Almack's, Regency London's most exclusive social venue.
The Lady Patronesses are trying to discover who is vandalizing the pictures at this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, in the process uncovering a personal vendetta dating back nearly twenty years. Meanwhile, Annabel gains a very eligible suitor in Lord Glenrick, brother of one of her fellow Lady Patronesses and son and heir of the Duke of Carrick—but she's not quite sure he's the suitor she'd prefer...