Fans of time travel willing to revel in a different type of plot concept will ultimately discover that this romantic historical murder mystery ventures into a fresh sort of realism, subject to its own exotic rules of existence.

London, just after 1900. At an early age, Gallius Lovara proves to be a prodigy at painting horses. But his carefree existence is crushed by the senseless and unsolved murder of a close family member that haunts the rest of his life. The teenage friendships he makes at art school become his lifeline: Aurora, his girlfriend and devilish instigator of escapades with horses; Reggie, his soccer teammate with the bedroom eyes that girls find so irresistible; and Sarah, the social empath so beloved by everyone at school.

After they all graduate, Aurora, the budding playwright, waits five anxious years to marry Gallius on his return from the Great War. In 1922, during their magical three-month honeymoon in Angers, France, the murderer who upended Gallius's youth repeatedly menaces Aurora for no apparent reason. The stalker's harrowing persistence unnerves the lovers' pleasure in horseback riding to adventures on the Loire. Aurora and Gallius don't comprehend their degree of jeopardy.

After the honeymoon, Gallius returns to his position teaching painting at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He doesn't anticipate that the assailant will return to attack his artist wife. When the assaults continue, he appears powerless to thwart the mayhem. This epic mystery chronicles the trauma and ecstasy of a danger-infused quest by Gallius and his talented wife for romantic bliss. Their passionate and inventive lovemaking is interspersed with intervals of sheer dread. Your racing mind will outpace your fingers' ability to flip the next page. Their predator forces the lovers down a malevolent and unpredictable horse path. And that path is strewn with twists, mischievous misdirection, and cliffhangers. Cinch your saddle up tight.