London, 1878. On the Thames, a mysterious crime is committed: the body of a young girl is found among rose petals in a boat drifting downstream. The murdered victim turns out to be the daughter of a well-known judge, and the investigation is taken in hand by the senior inspector of Scotland Yard, Michael Corravan. A former boxer and dock worker from bleak East End London, Corravan has a good instinct for the street and a knack for finding clues—but he is very surprised when, exactly one week later, a second woman is found dead in the same boat, and then a third…
Little by little it becomes clear that the killings on the river may be connected to some terrible act of injustice in the past, for which someone vowed to take brutal revenge. Corravan must uncover the truth before London sinks into panic and before the killer demands yet another innocent victim.