Oxford, 1925. Intrepid reporter Poppy Denby is headed to the historic university city of Oxford, where a young female scientist, Dr June Leighton, has been found dead.

Though June's death is ruled an accident by the authorities, one of her colleagues, Sophie Blackburn who is an old associate of Poppy's, is convinced June was murdered for threatening to expose a male colleague for plagiarism.

However, Sophie's mental health is fragile and doubt is cast on her version of events. Poppy has always been reporter first, sleuth second, and whilst Poppy knows Sophie is still haunted by the death of her fiancé Bert, a former political correspondent for the Daily Globe, something tells Poppy there is a crime to be exposed and a scoop to be had.

But as she begins to investigate, another female academic is attacked, and it doesn't take long for Poppy herself to become a target.

Can she unmask the killer before another life is taken?

Fiona Veitch Smith is a lover of Golden Age mysteries and historical fiction and has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger. She has worked as a journalist, a university lecturer and a communications manager, and mentors new novelists. She grew up in Northumberland, then spent her teens and twenties in South Africa. She now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.