Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the dead woman was a highly paid prostitute. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done.

Enlisting the help of thief-taker Peregrine Child, Caro sets out to solve the crime herself. Their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice and deception. But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro’s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be more treacherous than she can know . . .