Home from the war in America, Matthew Hawkwood's return to Bow Street is marked by a summons to a burying ground and the naked corpse of a young woman; murdered, her hands and legs bound, cast into an open grave in an attempt to conceal the body beneath the pit's intended occupant.

When the victim is identified as a prostitute her death is deemed of little consequence but the nature of the crime and the casual attempt to conceal the evidence touches a raw nerve and when Hawkwood discovers that the victim worked out of a high-class brothel catering to members of the establishment, his interest is piqued, even more so when Chief Magistrate James Read receives a direct order from the Home Department to abandon the case.

Undeterred, Hawkwood persists and when his hunt for the killer leads him into the heart of a government determined to protect its secrets at any cost, his one recourse is to turn to his contacts within the London underworld for help.

As the truth behind the girl's murder emerges, setting in motion a lethal chain of events, Hawkwood learns the true meaning of loyalty and that this time the enemy is much closer to home than he ever imagined...