An epic and playful mystery of passion, fear, scandal and murder, from one of history's master storytellers. 1901. Night draws in. With the stealth of a spy vessel, the royal ship Aziziye approaches the famous vistas of Mingheria, the twenty-ninth state of the ailing Ottoman Empire. The ship carries Princess Pakize, the daughter of a deposed sultan, her doctor husband, and the Royal Chemist, Bonkowski Pasha. Not all of them will survive the weeks ahead. There are rumours of plague - rumours some in power will try to suppress. But plague is not the only killer. Mingheria is on the cusp of catastrophe, and the future of a fragile empire is at stake.