It wasn’t just blood, it was ink too. There was black ink on his face and more on his chest and fingertips. Not just the usual printer’s stain, but like his fingers had been pressed in it…

London, 1841. Returned from their adventures in India, Jeremiah Blake and William Avery have both had their difficulties adapting to life in Victorian England. Moreover, time and distance have weakened the close bond between them, forged in the jungles of India. Then a shocking series of murders in the world of London’s gutter press forces them back together.

The police seem mysteriously unwilling to investigate, and as connections emerge between the murdered men and the growing and unpredictable movement demanding the right to vote for all, Blake and Avery must race against time to find the culprit before he kills again.

But what if the murderer is being protected by some of the highest powers in the land?