When an ambitious merchant's body is found in an alleyway in Karvalahall, it will take all of Inspector Corvinus Finch's cunning, with the help of young Watchman John Raliss, to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice.
CORVINUS FINCH is an Inspector with the City Watch in Karvalahall, capital city of the Nulorian empire. Gruff, determined, and brilliant, Finch has spent his career solving crime, magical and otherwise.
JOHN RALISS is a bright young man with less than a month on the Watch.Yet he has already proven himself well suited to the job, having apprehended the notorious serial killer known as the Bilen Road Butcher.
Inspector Finch is less than thrilled when Captain Brentwood assigns Raliss to assist him in his investigation. An ambitious merchant with a love for slumming has been found dead in an alleyway near Althoris Square, and while it looks like a simple mugging gone bad, Finch isn’t so sure. Together, Finch and Raliss must work the case, and in so doing pull back the veil of prosperity and morality to expose the desperation, greed, and poverty of the city beneath it, as well as the vile motivations of the upwardly ambitious.