The Poisoned Well

"History is an archive of patterns. Justice is the recognition of them." Fresh off the harrowing discovery of the Factory Ledgers, archivist Thomas Kane returns to the soot-stained streets of the coal district. But the machinery of the state has not stopped; it has simply evolved. When a "vague diagnosis" begins sweeping through the local workhouses, Kane suspects something more sinister than a natural fever. Following a trail of isolation protocols and undefined medical procedures, he uncovers a terrifying contamination pattern—one that leads directly to a network of medical authorities who view the poor not as people, but as subjects for a grand, systemic experiment. In The Poisoned Well, Kane must navigate a labyrinth of institutional silence to find the truth behind the children's fever. With the ghosts of the past—specifically the brilliant, forgotten Eleanor Voss—guiding his hand, Kane realizes that the monster is not a single man, but the vast, impersonal shadow cast by the system itself. The Poisoned Well is the second volume in the Thomas Kane Investigations, a series of atmospheric Victorian noir mysteries where the greatest weapon against corruption is a well-kept record.