When Richard Nottingham, Constable of Leeds, discovers his former housemaid murdered in a particularly sickening manner, his professional and personal lives move perilously close to each other. Then circumstances seem to conspire against him and more murders follow. Soon the city fathers cast doubt on his capability, and he is forced to seek help from an unsavoury source. Answers start to emerge, but Nottingham may get much more than he bargained for...