Sydney, 1828. All is not well. One of the convict colony's soldiers has been murdered and Governor Ralph Darling is not pleased.
Reluctantly, he turns to Nicodemus Dunne for help. Dunne, a fallen Bow Street Runner now transported to Australia, makes his living as a running patterer, hawking news on the dusty streets. Only he has the detective skills required to chase down the ritual killer and stop the ever-bewildering series of gruesome murders that follow the first.