AustLit

'The year is 1900, and photographer Beatrix Spencer has just opened her photographic studio in the bustling colonial metropolis of Sydney. But it is a turbulent time to start a new business. A deadly outbreak of bubonic plague is threatening the city, causing public panic, putting ships into quarantine and causing unrest on the wharves. The colony is preparing to send soldiers to the Boer War. Women are struggling to gain rights and recognition. When a mysterious passenger disappears from a quarantined ship, Beatrix is drawn into the investigation led by Detective Fergus Blair, who has secrets of his own. Against a backdrop of disease, politics and violence, Fergus and Beatrix find that their city has an underworld that is more dangerous than either of them realized. And somewhere, another more sinister photographer is at work… Taken at Night is an intriguing historical mystery that will introduce readers to the dangerous laneways and shadowy characters of Edwardian Sydney.' (Publication summary)