The mutilated bodies of a young woman and her ladies' maid are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach - a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and

Breslau in the 1920s is haunt of marquises and merchants, gamblers and gutter-rats. Eberhard Mock, the hardened Criminal Councillor, fits right in as he sways from the basements of grubby casinos to his beautiful young wife in their palatial mansion.

Breslau, 1919. The hideously battered bodies of four young sailors are discovered on an island in the River Oder. When Inspector Mock arrives at the scene to invesigate, he discovers a note addressed to him, asking him to confess his sins and to become a believer.

The fourth Eberhard Mock investigation - Mock tracks a killer with a murderous taste for human flesh.