Hard Cover, Brand New Stepsisters Mary and Jane find themselves caught up in a mystery involving a drowned Russian and missing diamonds, while falling for the charms of poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron?in this gripping historical mystery from the acclaimed author of the A Dickens of a Crime series. 1814: Foreign diplomats are descending on London in advance of the Congress of Vienna meetings to formulate a new peace plan for Europe following Napoleon?s downfall. Mary and Jane?s father, political philosopher William Godwin, is hosting a gathering with an advance party of Russian royal staff. The Russians are enthusiastic followers of Mary?s late mother, philosopher and women?s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, which leads to a lively dinner discussion. Following their visit, Jane overhears her father reassuring his pushiest creditor that the Russians have pledged diamonds to support his publishing venture, the Juvenile Library, relieving his financial burden. But when Godwin is told the man who promised the diamonds was pulled from the River Thames, his dire financial problems are further complicated by the suspicion that the family may have been involved in the murder.