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Penelope Tredwell needs a sensational new story or her magazine, the Penny Dreadful, will go under. So when a mysterious letter arrives, confessing to the impossible crime of stealing the Crown Jewels, Penelope thinks she has found a plot to enthrall her readers. But Penelope begins to suspect the mastermind behind the letter could be real. Can she solve the mystery and keep the true identity of Montgomery Flinch a secret?

As the age of the silent film dawns, a mysterious filmmaker approaches the Penny Dreadful with a proposal to turn Montgomery Flinch's sinister stories into motion pictures. With Monty starring in the production, filming begins but is plagued by a series of strange and frightening events. As Monty pleads with Penny to help him, she is drawn into the mystery, but soon finds herself trapped in a nightmare penned by her own hand. Can Penny uncover the filmmaker's dark secret in time?

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of Victorian Britain's bestselling magazine, the Penny Dreadful. Her spine-chilling tales—concealed under the pen name Montgomery Finch—are gripping the public. One day she receives a letter from the governor of the Bedlam madhouse requesting Finch's help to investigate the asylum's strange goings-on. Every night at precisely twelve minutes to midnight, the inmates all begin feverishly writing-incoherent ramblings that Penelope quickly realizes are frightening visions of the century to come. But what is causing this phenomenon? In the first book of this smart new series, Penelope is drawn into a thrilling mystery more terrifying than anything she could ever imagine!