In the vein of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, Karen Odden's mystery introduces Inspector Michael Corravan as he investigates a string of vicious murders that has rocked Victorian London's upper crust. London, 1878. In the murky waters of the Thames, a young woman's body is discovered floating in a small lighter boat. When the body is identified as Rose Albert, daughter of a prominent judge, Michael Corravan must take the case. Corravan is one of only three remaining Scotland Yard Senior Inspectors remaining in the wake of a scandal that has left the force in ruins and Rose's case means he must abandon his search for missing woman Mrs. Beckford, the wife of a shipping magnate. Corravan resentfully agrees, knowing Rose's case must take precedence.
An Irish former bare-knuckles boxer and dockworker from London's seedy East End, Corravan has good street sense and an inspector's knack for digging up clues. But he's confounded when, a week later, a second woman is found dead in a rowboat, and then a third. The deaths seem to have no connection whatsoever. Then, Corravan's deputy, Mr. Stiles, now assigned to the Beckford case, makes an alarming discovery: Mrs. Beckford didn't flee her house and vanish because she was insane--as her husband claims--but because something unspeakable happened there.
Slowly, it becomes clear that the linchpin is the terrible fate that befell a maid in the Beckford household the year before. Someone has vowed that the ones who destroyed her will pay--but not with their own lives. Now, Corravan must dredge up the truth before the killer's murderous vengeance claims another innocent victim.
