The Glasshouse Enigma: A Curious Antiquities Mystery, #5

The heat is rising. The glass is locked. And the deepest cuts come from the inside.

Horologist Clara Pendelton and Syndicate risk assessor Jonas Vance have finally surrendered to their intense, deeply passionate connection. As a perfectly synchronized team, they are lethal. But their newfound happiness is thrown into jeopardy when a ruthless Syndicate Auditor is sent to monitor their latest assignment: authenticating the Eden Sphere, a colossal, steam-powered Victorian orrery hidden deep within a sprawling Portuguese botanical estate.

When the eccentric owner of the estate is found murdered inside a hermetically sealed greenhouse—killed by an airborne neurotoxin with no trace of the poison in the room—Clara and Jonas are plunged into a suffocating, high-stakes investigation. Clara must dissect the estate's dangerous geothermal plumbing to track the killer, all while maintaining a cold, professional distance from Jonas under the Auditor's watchful eye.

But the real danger isn't just the lethal flora or the mechanical traps. To throw the Syndicate off the scent of their forbidden romance, Jonas is forced to fabricate a scandalous, compromising lie with a seductive murder suspect.

Locked inside a sweltering glasshouse with a killer who has weaponized the environment, Clara and Jonas must fight to survive. But even if they can manually jam the colossal gears and shatter the glass ceiling, the agonizing secret Jonas is keeping might just shatter their hearts first.