Antonio Garrido

What deadly secrets lie hidden in a simple bouquet of flowers? A fast-paced thriller set in Victorian England.

In mid-19th century industrial London, Rick Hunter is a bounty hunter who makes his living selling to the highest bidder, motivated by a dark thirst for vengeance.

After escaping a deadly ambush, a strange clue takes him to the exclu-sive florist shop, Passion of the East, whose proprietress is an expert in the language of flowers. Her powerful, aristocratic clients go to her eager to discreetly communicate their secret passions through messages encoded in the composition of floral centrepieces.

Rick manages to get hired as an apprentice, and discovers that under the guise of luxurious entertainment lies a sophisticated system of commu-nications between extremely dangerous characters: the ambitious German consul, Gustav Gruner; the rich philanthropist, Lord Bradbury; Karum, a sadistic native from the colonies; and the beautiful, enigmatic Daphne Lov-eray who holds the key to it all.

From that moment on, a frenzied series of crimes is unleashed in a city that seems only to live for the opening of the first World’s Fair, the moment when the British Empire will show the world the full extent of its power, or it might collapse if Hunter fails to uncover the truth.