Jack Swann is, on the surface, a typical gentleman of the Regency period; educated, literate and well-heeled. In his early thirties, he is single and attractive, with all the resources needed to live a privileged life. Haunted by the murder of his father fifteen years before - the perpetrators of which having never been caught - Swann has, however, turned his back on this world and has chosen instead to fight crime as 'The Regency Detective', unofficially connected with the Bow Street Runners. Arriving in Bath for the funeral of his mother, Swann finds several reasons for staying in the city; to protect Mary, his sister, from the charming but unscrupulous Lockhart; to find the 'Scarred Man' who might lead him to his father's killer; and to end the reign of terror by Wicks, the local criminal boss who sets out to have Swann assassinated.