Blade of the Assassin

In 1863, the Detective Department at Glasgow Central is undermanned and short of funds, yet Superintendent Jarrett, Inspector Grant and Sergeant Quinn are expected to run to ground a multiple murderer, a vengeful madman and a professional pornographer and to do so without inconveniencing or implicating certain prominent citizens.Comfortably ensconced in Elsie Maitland's superior guest house for single gentlemen, Henry Jarrett, formerly of the Hong Kong Police, depends solely on deduction, whilst Inspector Charlie Grant brings to bear his long experience of the city's back streets. The youthful Tommy Quinn for his part is at home with the recently introduced technologies of crime scene photography and the electric telegraph.Together, they uncover a conspiracy so large that it could shake the political administrations on both sides of the Atlantic.