The Ruby in the Smoke is the first of Pullman's trilogy about Sally Lockhart.

In Shadow in the North, Sally has established her own business as a financial adviser. When one of her clients confronts Sally with the collapse of a shipping firm that Sally recommended, Jim and Frederick try to solve the mystery of what happened to the firm. In the final book, The Tiger in the Well, Sally is threatened with a divorce from a man whom she has never met. When her "husband" tries to take all of Sally's savings and her young daughter, Sally sets out to find the person behind the evil plot to ruin her life.