Celebrated for his gripping short mysteries (he has won both the CWA's Short Story Dagger and Margery Allingham Prize) as well as his Edgar Award-winning critical study of crime writing, The Golden Age of Murder, Martin Edwards is known as "a crime writer's crime writer" (Michael Jecks) for his subtle plotting, fluid prose, and vivid descriptions.

In this first book in the series, from 1991—a finalist for the John Creasey Memorial Dagger—Liverpool solicitor Harry Devlin finds he is suspect number one in a murder case too close to home; the victim is his estranged wife Liz, whose body was discovered in a dingy alleyway. Determined to find her killer and prove his innocence, Harry begins a journey that takes him into the city's sleazy underworld and shatters his illusions about the woman he loved.