Vic Prince is a wise cracking detective, plying his trade in 1940's war torn Liverpool. Unable to enlist because of flat feet and asthma, Prince has an affinity with the City because his great grandfather was brought to the Mersey shores, on the last ever Slave Ship to dock, back in 1807. Prince has to wrestle with prejudice, the ostracising of his girlfriend and her Chinese father, his conscience when his best friend controls the City's black market and a detective sergeant who hates his guts. The City is alive with foreign factions because of the geographical proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and its strategic importance. There is also worry the Nazis are planning a land invasion and add to that, a constant bombing of Liverpool's dockland. Nine Lives; Vic is encouraged to work other cases as the search continues for the collar of a missing Persian Blue cat, while he also tries to understand why dead men keep turning up in the Mersey. He at first must negotiate his best friend Percy's release from the Russians, who want to recover a cache of guns they believe he is holding. He is engaged by the wife of a wealthy business man, Cyril Longthorne; who believes her husband is being held against his will by a group stealing his money. Vic is forced to travel to the popular seaside town of Southport to unravel the mystery, but gets far more than he bargained for, when associates of Cyril's are murdered before he can talk to them....