The Velvet Cypher: The Price of Forbidden Knowledge

In Victorian London, the most dangerous secrets aren't spoken. They're woven.

Eleanor Vance is a woman trapped by her time but liberated by her mind. Publicly, she is the quiet daughter of a brilliant historian. Privately, she is a master cryptographer, capable of seeing patterns where others see only chaos-a skill she uses to decode ancient ciphers for her father.

But when her father is found dead under suspicious circumstances and his most valuable research-a seemingly innocuous canvas-is stolen, Eleanor's world unravels. The police rule his death an accident, but she sees the truth in the patterns he left behind: it was murder.

Her only clue is a single, velvet-bound cipher, a puzzle that leads her into a clandestine world of secret societies, powerful industrialists, and simmering revolution. With the help of a cynical but resourceful telegraph operator, Eleanor must navigate a city of glass palaces and fog-filled alleys, hunted by a shadowy mastermind who believes she holds the key to a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the Empire.

To unravel the truth, she must solve the one cipher her father never could: the one that cost him his life.

A spellbinding blend of historical mystery, Da Vinci Code-style intrigue, and steampunk adventure, THE VELVET CIPHER is perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Philip Pullman.