Hunting down highwaymen is not the usual preserve of a Bow Street Runner, which makes former soldier turned peace officer, Matthew Hawkwood, wonder why the Chief Magistrate is so concerned over what appears to be a mundane case, until he learns that it involves the murder and mutilation of a naval courier.  Soon, Hawkwood finds himself pursuing a trail that leads from the squalor of St Giles Rookery to the brightly lit salons of the aristocracy and the heart of the British establishment. But it is only with the discovery of a corpse on the banks of the Thames that the true agenda behind the robbery emerges and a dark conspiracy is revealed. Bonaparte’s agents are preparing to launch an assassination attempt that will crush British morale and bring terror to the high seas for years to come. Only Hawkwood can stop them