In the sweltering New York summer of 1841, five people are found brutally murdered. At the center of it all is High Constable Jacob Hays, the young city’s first detective and the novel’s "likeable, crusty narrator" ( ). His investigation spans years, involving gang wars, graverobbers, and clues hidden in poems by that hopeless romantic and minstrel of the night: Edgar Allan Poe. is a gripping and atmospheric historical thriller of murder and deceit in nineteenth-century New York.