Summoned to the scene of a murder in the London district known as Mile End, Daniel Pitt knows only that the victim is a senior barrister from his own firm. In this fourth outing (after One Fatal Flaw) by the late Anne Perry, Daniel and his friend Toby Kitteridge make inquiries in Mile End leading them to a wealthy shipbuilder working on Britain's fleet, which may soon face the naval might of Germany. When Daniel's family is threatened, will his devotion to justice be his undoing, and endanger Britain's defense at sea?