FYNIXFIRE MEDIA · COMING SOON
The Shadow of the Jade Serpent
A.J. Dunsmore
A single jade figurine. Two almost identical serpents. A secret kept for generations.
In the hushed archives of London’s Althorpe Collection, veteran archivist Millicent Abernathy discovers an exquisite jade serpent whose origins are strangely obscure. Her careful cataloging should have ended with a ledger entry. Instead, a summons from Scotland Yard reveals an impossible coincidence: a nearly identical carving has been found in the hand of a murdered Limehouse proprietor.
The police dismiss her concerns as antiquarian speculation, but Millicent sees details no one else will notice. Her investigation draws her into forgotten family records, the disappearance of her great-aunt Prudence, and the dangerous history of a secretive society whose influence reaches from East Asian antiquities to London’s drawing rooms.
As the connections multiply, every document becomes a possible warning, every helpful acquaintance a potential adversary, and the serpent itself a symbol of secrets someone is willing to kill to keep. To expose the truth, Millicent must trust the skills that have defined her life—and venture far beyond the safe walls of the archive.
Victorian gothic mystery · Historical suspense · Secret societies