It becomes evident that the two cases are somehow connected and Pitt finds himself embroiled in a fight to save the one thing he's spent his whole career trying to preserve - the integrity of Bow Street's police force. In the sixteenth murder mystery featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, their detective wits are stretched to the limit as a grotesque death sparks off an investigation into horrific hidden scandals. It is barely two years since the prostitutes of London's East End were terrorized by Jack the Ripper. Now, in dismal Pentecost Alley, a killer is at work in the backstreets of Whitechapel once more. Not that the grisly murder of a mere whore is enough to merit the expertise of Superintendent Pitt of Bow Street.
Society regards such women as less than human, deserving all they get.
But beneath the mutilated body of the young girl there is a strange badge. The insignia proclaims it to be an emblem of the Hellfire Club, and on the back is engraved the name Of Finlay FitzJames. Pitt cannot afford to make one false move. Superintendent Pitt is up against the most sensitive and politically demanding case of his career, in which a traitor is at work in the Colonial Office. The field of suspects is limited to a handful of highly distinguished public servants.