Called away from his pregnant girlfriend, Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen knows the sight of the murdered prostitute will be with him all his life. But this is what he does: he finds killers. Helen Tozer, more than most, understands why. The girl they called Julie Teenager had a client list full of suspects - all rich, powerful - and protected. Someone warns off the beat coppers; someone disturbs the crime scene. Breen begins to fear that this is more than the murder of a prostitute. It's political. Then Helen, with her ex-copper's instincts and fierce moral sense, gets dangerously involved. And Breen knows he has more to lose than ever before. He is about to become a father. He can have no sympathy for the devil. Breen and Tozer met through murder. They work in a world before forensics or criminal databases; a world that's bigoted and brutal.