In the eighth Irene Adler mystery, Irene's associate/nemesis Sherlock Holmes puts her on a possible track to discovering her mother's identity. Irene and sidekick Nell Huxleigh investigate the history of a dead woman buried under the name Eliza Gilbert, who turns out to have been the notorious Spanish dancer/courtesan Lola Montez. Meanwhile, Holmes investigates the recent suspicious death of the Episcopalian priest linked to Montez's final days.