London's Inspector Bill Slider is back at work with a thumping headache he received from the last villain he encountered, and minus Atherton, his friend and colleague, who is still in the hospital with a knife wound.

When erotic dancer Jay Paloma is murdered only hours after complaining of receiving poison pen letters, Slider is plunged into Paloma's seedy world, populated by prostitutes, pimps, and, surprisingly, Cabinet ministers. Did Jay's killer also whack popular "community cop" PC Cosgrove? Who exactly was blackmailing whom? And why on earth would an animal rights group storm a tacky Shepherd's Bush nightclub?

With concern over Atherton's recovery, with his estranged wife seeking a most unwelcome reconciliation, with Atherton's nubile replacement anxious to show him her testimonials, and with his violinist lover Joanna confessing murderously jealous fantasies,