It's London, 1664, and Harry has a big problem. He has just discovered he has a young cousin, Anne Giles, and he has had the pleasure of meeting her for the first time—mutilated and laid out on the slab for an autopsy. His father has tasked him with job of tracking down Anne’s murderer. Harry has some robust assistance from one David Dowling, a resourceful, impressively well-built, yet equally hygiene-deficient, butcher. Together they follow a trail of blood, conspiracy, and corruption that takes them to the dark and murky corners of Restoration London, featuring a great cast of ne'er-do-wells, cheeky wenches, harmless witches, likeable villains, and not a few unsavory fellows keen on sending Lytle and his companion to an early grave.