Title: Summerstorm
Description: Historical, gothic-romance by Anastasia Cleaver (who also wrote bodice rippers by the name of Natasha Peters)

They called themselves the Apollonians and they were dedicated to Art. They were also dedicated to whiskey and wild parties, and a life of total immorality.

Into their circle came Eugenia, innocent and trusting... until her husband, the leader of the group and the most amoral of them all, grew tired of her. One terrible night, when the wine and the women were tasted with equal abandon, Eugenia was knifed and dropped into the river, never to be seen or heard from again.

Or so the Apollonians thought. Eugenia survived -- survived in order to have her revenge. Poor Eugenia -- she devised a scheme so bold, so daring, so inescapably dangerous that it seemed as if she were plotting her own death. And indeed... she was.
Time periods: Late 18th early 19th centuries.