The plague raging through London in 1665 has emptied the city The only people left are those too poor to flee or those who selflessly struggle to control the contagion & safeguard the capital's future Amongst them though are those prepared to risk their health for money
- those who sell dubious 'cures' & hawk food at wildly inflated prices Also amongst them are those who hold in their hands the future of the city's most iconic building
- St Paul's Cathedral The handsome edifice is crumbling from decades of neglect & indecision giving the current custodians a stark choice
- repair or demolish Both sides have fanatical adherents who have been fighting each other since the Civil Wars Large sums of money have disappeared major players have mysteriously vanished & then a unidentified skeleton is discovered in another man's grave A reluctant Chaloner returns to London to investigate only to discover that someone is determined to thwart him by any means
- by bullet poison or bludgeon
- & he fears he has very little time to identify the culprits before he becomes yet another victim in the battle for the Cathedral's future