In 1859, Charles Darwin proposed the Theory of Evolution. In 1860, Oswald Oliphant turned that theory on its head. His revolutionary process of “Dynamic Darwinism” granted powers of speech and intelligence to animals, changing the lives of all living creatures—particularly that of a young gorilla named Cooper. Owned by famed British nobleman and explorer, Lord Percival Grey, Cooper became the first animal to receive Dynamic Darwinism. He gained intelligence—and a love for Queen and Country. Now, he has inherited his father’s title and become Lord Cooper Grey—the only gorilla of the peerage. Along with Penny Prescott, American inventor and adventuress, he travels the world as an agent of the Queen, helping to handle the matters of beasts for the British Empire.When a terrifying and murderous apparition known as the Wraith begins leaving a bloody trail of sundered bodies and gutted Dynamic Darwinism laboratories through the streets of London, Cooper is sent to stop him. His pursuit takes him from the seething rookeries of Whitechapel to the rarefied eyries of London high society. Cooper and Penny clash tooth and claw with a Chinese gibbon trained by Shaolin monks, a Russian bear beloved by the Tsar, an Irish rebel Spider Monkey, and an American gunslinger chimp, as they discover that the Wraith hunts a secret that could bring doom to Lord Grey—and the Empire. To protect his family and his Queen, Lord Cooper Grey and his allies will rely on their dynamic power, their animal instinct, and their Ape’s Honor.