With the dust finally settling after her near-fatal shooting, Lady Amelia Smallhope is looking forward to a period of rest and recuperation — a chance for her and Pennyroyal to plan their next job and drink margaritas in the sun. Naturally, nothing of the kind happens. The two of them have been targeted, by someone who knows a great deal more about Pennyroyal's murky past than anyone should, and for the first time the most formidable recovery agents in the business find themselves badly exposed. There is only one way to find out who is behind it, and the road there is dangerous.
This is the second outing for the time-travelling bounty hunters Jodi Taylor's readers first met as side characters in the Chronicles of St Mary's and the Time Police, and the follow-up to The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal. It is twisty and fast-moving, the comic register of the first book intact, but the threat this time comes from inside the family — which is what gives the book its title and a good deal more edge than a straightforward caper.
Published by Headline in August 2026. As Smallhope likes to say: when things are bad, make them worse.