The Scrivener presents a third mystery to be solved by 18th century coroner of Preston, Titus Cragg, and his friend Dr Luke Fidelis, following their previous adventures in A Dark Anatomy (2011) and Dark Waters (2012). The ingenuity of the investigators is taxed to the limit as a goldsmith's body is found in a locked room, the town's investments in the Guinea Trade go missing, and the hunt is on for a buried Civil War treasure. "Truth, Sir, that is what counts: more than punishment, more even than retribution. Without truth, and the trial of truth, there is no justice, and no advancement." The novel is published simultaneously by Minotaur Books in New York under the variant title The Hidden Man.