Step into the shadows of 1860s Birmingham. Behind the iron gates of the Quarter’s famed pen factory, the press room roars day and night. But beneath the clatter of heavy machinery and the rising steam of the top-floor Turkish baths, dangerous secrets are brewing. International espionage, stolen patents, and desperate bargains bind the workforce together in a web of silence. When an unannounced late-night inspection ends in horror. Inspector Archibald Sterling—Her Majesty’s unyielding factory auditor—has been found dead on the factory floor. His notebook of violations has been ripped open, and the culprit remains within these walls.