Detective Kathleen Doyle has her hands full. She has recently been paired with the newly promoted Detective Sergeant Williams to investigate a turf war--a series of retribution murders between the Russians and the Irish, both of whom are trying to control a lucrative underworld business. Kathleen also just learned that she's pregnant and must now deal with the repercussions of her hasty marriage in the form of Chief Inspector Acton's mother, the displeased dowager, who makes an unannounced visit. Still worse, Kathleen senses that Acton is carrying out a "scorched earth" retribution of his own and that he instigated the turf war to rid London of its villains. She worries that he is meting out his own form of justice--and who knows what will happen if it's exposed?