She looked at him and smiled sadly. `You've lived too long among the dead, Quirke,' she said.

He nodded. `Yes, I suppose I have.' She was not the first one to have told him that, and she would not be the last.

1950s Dublin. When a body is found in the canal, pathologist Quirke and his detective friend Inspector Hackett must find the truth behind this brutal murder. But in a world where the police are not trusted and secrets often remain buried there is perhaps little hope of bringing the perpetrator to justice.

As spring storms descend on Dublin, Quirke and Hackett's investigation will lead them into the dark heart of the organisation that really runs this troubled city: the church. Meanwhile Quirke's daughter Phoebe realises she is being followed; and when Quirke's terrible childhood in a priest-run orphanage returns to haunt him, he will face his greatest trial yet . . .