Leo Stanhope

Everyone has a secret.... Only some lead to murder. Introducing Leo Stanhope: a Victorian transgender coroner's assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own future. When the body of a young woman is wheeled into the hospital where Leo Stanhope works, his life is thrown into chaos. Maria, the woman he loves, has been murdered, and it is not long before the finger of suspicion is turned on him, threatening to expose his lifelong secret.

Leo Stanhope. Assistant to a London coroner; in love with Maria; and hiding a very big secret. For Leo was born Charlotte, but knowing he was meant to be a man and unable to cope with living a lie any longer, he fled his family home at 15 and has been living as a man ever since. But when Maria is found dead, Leo is accused of her murder and stands to lose not just the woman he loves but his freedom and, ultimately, his life.

It's been a year since Leo Stanhope lost the woman he loved and came closing to losing his own life. Now he is determined to keep his head down and stay safe. But Leo's hopes for peace are shattered when the police unexpectedly arrive: a woman has been found murdered at a club for anarchists, and Leo's address is in her purse. When Leo is taken to the club by the police there is a man there from his past who knows Leo's birth identity. And if Leo does not provide him with an alibi for the night of the killing, he is going to share this information with the authorities.

The headlines scream warnings about the 'Butcher of Berner Street!', and the journalist behind them - Leo Stanhope - is secretly thrilled to see the effect his words are having. Leo's previous work has largely been concentrated on more mundane issues, but when an anonymous letter summons him to a club in East London, only for the owner of the club to be found murdered shortly afterwards, Leo sees a story worth pursuing. Not to mention an opportunity to make a name for himself.