Cyrano de Bergerac is in possession of a cadet position in the French Army, a poet's soul, and a very, very large nose. He is also in love with Roxane but believes himself too ugly to be loved by her in return. When the handsome but unpoetic new cadet, Christian, falls for the beautiful Roxane , he asks Cyrano to help him win her heart....
In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.