Superintendent Henry Jarrett is summoned urgently to a bank robbery, only to find that it is not money that has been taken but the contents of certain boxes. As if that isn’t enough, there is a suspected poisoner at work on his family... and who is raping young girls?

Another pacy mystery for Jarrett on the mean streets of mid 19th century Glasgow, an unusual and worthwhile choice for a setting. There is always something going on in this lively book as in the first two (Blade of the Assassin and Jupiter’s Gold are also reviewed on this site) and pages turn at lightning speed. We are getting to know the various characters better, and soon this series will settle into one where part of the enjoyment is seeing what they are getting up to in each new title. The only alloy in this gold is the inescapable fact that the story could be set just about anywhere. I kept thinking that they were in London, and although I don’t think that a strong Glaswegian dialect would be a good idea, some flavor of this would give the books some much-needed local color.