"Have you ever heard of a baby-farmer? They trade in children, sir, and grow fat on human flesh." Terrified that her child will fall victim to the operators of a murderous racket that flourished in Victorian London, a young servant-girl pleads for help in rescuing her baby son. She sets in train a series of mysterious and shocking events that transform the lives of the dissolute Colonel Fellowes and his family; the sinister Mrs Hartshorne; and a cast of other characters who lurk in the shadows of the richest and most hypocritical city on earth. Originally published as The Baby Farmer, In the Shadows is based on the horrifying facts that emerged at a murder trial in the 1870s. A fast-moving story of crime, lust and greed, this novel will hold the reader spellbound from its opening passages all the way through to its astonishing climax.