Skeletons are discovered in a wasteland behind Cockpit Lane a poor largely black area of inner south London & DCI David Brock & DS Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Branch are called in to investigate. The discovery that the victims died during the Brixton riots over twenty years before lead Brock & Kolla on a dark & dangerous journey in which past & present come together in an intricate web of deception & intrigue as Brock encounters a formidable old antagonist Spider Roach. In a desperate search to find a crucial piece of evidence Brock & Kolla unwittingly set in train a series of events that erupt in a shocking violent conclusion. Written with Maitland's characteristically vivid sense of character & place Spider Trap" is Maitland at his scrupulously plotted complex & compelling best."