Guardians of the Key

Lucca, city state for hundreds of years, keeper of secrets and relics, possessor of the Holy Face of Christ, has the emperor's army at its ancient gates. Napoleon has declared himself King of All Italy, and is handing out his principalities to his sisters. "You are now a princess," he told his eldest, and when Maria Elisa Bacciochi asked of where, he said, "How about Lucca? "

A continent away in Bexleyheath, it is the day of the Advent Fair, and Mabel Flinchurst gazes down from her window upon the hustle and bustle of the streets. She does not see the unknown man walk into the church of St Anthony's across the square, nor does she see him enter the small chapel where he draws a dagger swift across his throat, spilling his blood upon its stones.

But Lucca and this pilgrim suicide are strands from the same rope, a rope that is being wound unseen about Mabel, ready to rip her from her cosy world.

When Toby, a friend of Mabel's, is kidnapped, she enlists the help of compulsive list-maker and missing-person finder, Whilbert Stroop. Together they are drawn into a mystery that began many centuries ago, and must discover the truth of the legend that has travelled across time from Lucca to London. They are not the only ones looking, and Mabel and Stroop soon find themselves losing a race against treachery and an unknown enemy, with murder snapping at their heels.