Rowland Laura Joh

"Miss Sarah Bain, a photographer in Whitechapel, is an independent woman with dark secrets. In the privacy of her studio, she supplements her meager income by taking illicit of the town's local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it's more than mere coincidence. Teamed with a motley crew of friends--including a street urchin, a gay aristocrat, a Jewish butcher...

In 1698 Japan, samurai detective Sano Ichiro finds his role as the shogun's trusted advisor threatened when the shogun's heir, Lord Mori, is found murdered, with Sano's pregnant wife, Reiko, lying beside him, naked and covered in blood.