Chief Detective Inspector Jane Tennison has moved up the ranks, fighting every step of the way to break through the station house’ s glass ceiling. Now, on her first day as the head of the Vice Squad, a case comes in that threatens to destroy everything she has worked for.
As Vera Reynolds, drag queen and night club star, swayed onstage singing “ Falling in Love Again, ” a sixteen-year-old rent boy lay in the older man’ s apartment, engulfed in flames. When Tennison’ s investigation reveals an influential public figure as her prime suspect, a man with connections to politicians, judges, and Scotland Yard, she’ s given a very clear message about the direction some very important people would like her investigation to take. Suddenly, in a case defined by murky details, one fact becomes indisputably clear— that for Tennison, going after the truth will mean risking her happiness, her career, and even her life.