Persephone Honeyfield is witty, intelligent, and very aware that the only way to escape the monotony of the life she shares with her father and sister in the English countryside--and the wagging, ever-critical tongues of the people around her--is through marriage. She also knows the likelihood of it being a love match is nearly zero.

Aidon Barrington has carried on the legacy of his family's funeral furnishing business, losing himself in the process. A shell of his former charming self, he's traded his reputation as a rake for that of a recluse and regularly appears in the scandal sheets as London's mysterious Lord of the Dead.

When Persephone finds herself at Gallowsgate--the old Barrington estate--on a seemingly simple errand, an unexpected run-in with the Lord of the Dead himself leaves her on the brink of ruination. With no other way to silence the village rumor mill, or save her sister's reputation, Persephone agrees to marry Aidon, becoming the wife of a man she hardly knows.

Persephone finds herself increasingly fascinated by her new husband, whose kind, patient nature stands in stark contrast to the ever-swirling rumors about him. But when the gossip begins to sound more like reality than fiction, she attempts to uncover the truth behind the Lord of the Dead while discovering she may have already lost her most guarded possession: her heart.