In a strange city

Every January 19th, the date on which Edgar Allan Poe would have been born, a mysterious figure wearing a cape, scarf, and hat visits the writer's grave in Baltimore, presenting him with roses and brandy, and then disappears without a trace. This year, private detective Tess Monaghan is among the spectators attending the ceremony on a frigid January night, and she sees two visitors approach the writer's resting place. One of them leaves the offering and flees. The other dies on the spot, struck down by an assassin's bullet. One of the city's most beautiful rituals has been destroyed, and it will be up to Tess to find the culprit.