The year is 1855. The Crimean war is raging. The British government has fallen. The Empire itself hangs in the balance. Into this crisis comes Thomas De Quincey, one of the most notorious personalities of Victorian England. Along with his irrepressible daughter Emily, and their Scotland Yard companions, Ryan and Becker, he finds himself confronted by an adversary who aims to strike at the heart of the nation. The murderer is targeting members of the elite, leaving with each corpse the name of someone who had attempted to kill Queen Victoria. De Quincey and his friends must race to protect their monarch, uncovering old conspiracies and the heartbreaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul. All the while, panic in London grows... Brilliantly merging historical fact with fiction, Inspector of the Dead is based on actual attempts to assassinate the Queen.