London, 1859. Great exhibitions. Foreign conquests. Underground trains. The era of Victorian marvels is also the time of the Great Stink. Beneath the respectable surface, a multitude of ills need flushing out. When a man is killed in a hydraulic burst, novice detective Campbell Lawless stumbles on to the trail of Berwick Skelton: this elusive activist rose from humble beginnings to cross swords with London's illuminati, before vanishing, heartbroken, amid presages of disaster. The Worms, a gang of urchins, help Lawless investigate the 'Skeleton Thefts' mystifying society, revealing to him the disillusion that lurks beneath the filthy cobblestones. Berwick's trail leads to music hall hoofers, industrial sabotage and royal scandal. Lawless peels away veneers of secrecy to convince the powers-that-be of Berwick's revolutionary plans. Can he track down the underworld mastermind before he wreaks vengeance on those who ride roughshod over his people?

It is 1863, and as a reluctant Inspector of Vice, Campbell Lawless undertakes a reckoning of London's houses of ill repute, a shadowy netherworld of frayed glamour and double standards, mesmerising and unspeakable by turns. From the erotic booksellers of Holywell Street to the alleys of Haymarket, he discovers backstreet cast-offs and casualties of the society bordellos, and becomes fascinated by a musician who has established a foundation for fallen women. But his inquiries draw the attention of powerful men, who can be merciless in defending their reputations. Lawless must unlock the heart of a clandestine network, before he too is silenced...

In London's East End, a corpse tumbles from a ship. Tangled in tarpaulin, it has lain forgotten for years. A scrap of paper in its pocket reads 'Roxbury'. The shadows of European machinations loom over the capital. For Sergeant Campbell Lawless, fears become reality as a series of explosions tear across the country. Home Office anxieties lead Lawless to Roxbury House, where the Earl of Roxbury, the country's foremost weapons manufacturer, resides with a cavalcade of innovative scientists and researchers. Lawless places his best agent, ex-street urchin Molly, in the Earl's home as he races to find those behind the attacks before the tinderbox of Europe is ignited.