As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all... but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for his brutal death remains a mystery.

Then further seemingly random killings in the city begin to suggest a vicious serial killer on the rampage. But when the lawyer's fiancee is also murdered, Skinner's suspicions are aroused.

What eventually emerges is an elaborate smoke screen shrouding a deep-rooted and intricate conspiracy. Now, whatever the danger to himself, Skinner is determined that in Edinburgh, at least, folk will abide by his rules.