A drag queen named Vera Reynolds sways onstage singing "Falling in Love Again," while a sixteen-year-old boy lies dead in her fire-engulfed apartment. He was a "rent boy," a sex-for-hire street kid who catered to the tastes of special customers. It's the kind of murder Soho's vice squad sees all the time. But their prime suspect, an influential do-gooder, makes this young boy's death different--a ticking bomb able to blast open the nasty, secret lives of politicians, judges . . . and cops.
Detective Jane Tennison has moved up the career ladder through sheer guts and an unstoppable passion for justice. Now, on her first day as the head of the vice squad, she's caught a case that could threaten to destroy her career. She's given a very clear message about the direction some very important people would like her investigation to take. But is she willing to play along and compromise her integrity, knowing that the murderer, a destroyer of children, is still out there? She knows she has a choice: to save her future or go after the killer like an avenging angel, and damn the consequences to hell.