When she is asked to investigate a series of eerie events at a country home turned boarding house outside of Oxford, Vivian agrees to take it on. There are so many possible causes; an old house, spiritualist seances, a dozen magical folk living close together. Retired from the Colonial Service after a terrifying incident, Cadmus is happy as a classicist and translator. Running the family estate near Oxford as a boarding house allows him to keep the place running until his nephew can inherit. Cadmus isn't sure what to make of their latest resident. Worse, after she arrives, there are even more odd and startling events. Shapes appear, paintings change on the walls, and the roses attack him. When he discovers a mysterious dancing figure, he is certain that all his fears about fae and inhuman magic have come home to roost.