A young man returns to London from the family plantation in the Caribbean after an absence of six years to be at his father's deathbed - and to inherit his estate. But is the new arrival who he says he is, or an impostor? Anyone who doubts his identity seems to meet an untimely end, but his sister swears that he is her beloved brother. With their investigations leading them into the complicated world of inheritance law and due process after death, Constable Sam Plank and his loyal lieutenant William Wilson come face to face with the death trade and those who profit from it - legally or otherwise. Among them is an old enemy who has used his cunning and ruthlessness to rise through the ranks of London's criminal world. And, in this sixth novel in the series, it's now 1829: as plans progress for a new police force for the metropolis, Sam and his wife Martha look to the future.