The Red Symbol

A young narrator becomes entangled in a web of mystery after encountering a woman whose past is signaled by a blood-stained portrait and a red symbol. His inquiry moves from London dinners and a river-side discovery through a violent train wreck, a tribunal and prison, and a perilous journey into Russia, where political conspiracies, secret identities, and militia action around Warsaw escalate into flight and desperate rescues. Romantic tensions between love and comradeship accompany detective work, and successive revelations resolve the hidden connections and disclose the woman's true identity and the motives behind past tragedies.