Canaletto and the Case of the Privy Garden

In 1747 Canaletto, the acclaimed Italian vedute artist, stumbles across the body of a stabbed girl in a London alley. He can't shake off the mystery of her end or the violent mutilation of her face. Perhaps because she reminds him of his apprentice, young Fanny Rooker, who, to his distress, now seems to be spreading her wings. Preparing to paint a view over the Privy Gardens from the Duke of Richmond's house in Whitehall while trying to find out more about the dead girl, leads Canaletto and Fanny into the path of a serial killer. There is also the matter of the foundling boy dragged into a life of crime plus a headstrong girl's beautiful African slave.