I think that Laura Joh Rowlands should've stopped with the first Charlotte Bronte adventure. This one was just too hard to fathom. First of all there is the backflashes to Russia where John Slade is assuming yet another identity and infiltrating the Tsar's court in some more espionage. Then we go to London where Charlotte goes to Bedlam where she finds who she thinks is John Slade on a stretcher being tormented. After pursuing an actress who is also a Russian spy and witnessing her death by stabbing, Charlotte then ends up in prison and then in Bedlam supposedly being "protected" by the government. There is this fleeing to her home and then another adventure to France where she is again hooked up with Slade in pursuit of a mad scientist who supposedly has discovered "germ warfare." More bad guys, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, William Makepeace Thackeray, and a host of other people are put in harm's way. One wonders when this all will end and this is one book where I hoped it would end soon because after ships, trains, carriages, and a hot air ballooon, even I was feeling jet lagged! I think maybe Ms. Rowlands was getting a bit confused also, because she had the villain, Dr. Kavanaugh, operating the hot air balloon in pursuit of himself! I think she meant Dr. Crick but then again this is poor editing like I've seen in a lot of recent books. Personally I like the mysteries of Sano Ichiro the best!