An abandoned Southwark warehouse burns next door to a women's shelter for victims of spousal abuse. Within it lies the charred corpse of a female body burned beyond all recognition. At the same time, workers at Guy's Hospital anxiously discuss the disappearance of a hospital administrator — a beautiful, emotionally fragile young woman who's vanished without a trace.

And in an old, dark, rambling London house, nine-year-old
Harriet's

...

"Sarah Gilchrist fled London and a troubled past to join the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1892, the first year it admitted women. Determined to become a doctor despite the misgivings of her family and society, Sarah quickly finds plenty of barriers at school itself; professors who refuse to teach their new pupils, male students determined to force out their female counterparts, and-- perhaps worst of all-- female peers who will do anything...

When a Paris musician witnesses an altercation that may have been a murder, the young Maigret becomes embroiled in his first case.