"Queen Victoria is the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground, and where mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. In this world, being part of the nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath), Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day, and leeches are considered a delicacy--and technology lives side by side with magic. The year is 2012 and Pax Britannia still reigns. Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it is her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But when her sister goes missing, Xandra will set out on a path that undermines everything she believed in and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire. And she is the key-the prize in a very dangerous struggle." -- P. [4] of ocver.