A mudered prostitute: Des McGinlay's first big case should be easy to resolve. But he's still struggling to pull his life together even as he picks through the wreckage of others' lives. Vin, who loved her, is being set up as the fall guy for the murder. Bertha, the grieving mother, wants Des for a lucrative future. And as a photographer, a dopehead and a right-wing politician are sucked into the vortex, the lowlife sharks are circling, and no one is playing by the rules. A masterly debut creating a tense atmosphere of corruption and betrayal in Birmingham's seedy underworld.