The Riddle of the Purple Emperor

Hamilton Cleek, the Man of Forty Faces, is a detective unlike any other. A master of disguise and an ace of deduction, he moves through the shadows of Edwardian London with effortless grace. But when he encounters Lady Margaret Cheyne at Charing Cross Station weary, overlooked, and deeply afraid something is terribly wrong. Ailsa Lorne persuades him to drive Margaret to her newly inherited home, Cheyne Court, and on that rain-slicked journey, Cleek learns the truth: the Purple Emperor, a legendary diamond with a blood-soaked history, now belongs to this exhausted woman. Strange figures lurked at the station. Ominous warnings preceded her. And at Cheyne Court, dark secrets wait. This is early detective fiction at its most atmospheric: a world of gaslit platforms, country estates hiding terrible truths, and a riddle wrapped in family tragedy. Cleek must untangle generations of deception before the Purple Emperor claims another victim.