


Under Nightingale's direction Peter Grant, a young police constable (and the first officially mandated apprentice wizard in over half a century), and Lesley May, Grant's partner from his days in the regular force (seriously disfigured in an earlier case involving magic, who has become Nightingale's de facto second apprentice, now wearing a surgical mask as part of the ongoing attempt to rebuild her ruined face) investigate. The story commences soon after the events in the previous book in the series, Moon Over Soho, during which an evil wizard known as the Faceless Man nearly killed Grant and his police superior and magical mentor Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale.
