1761, London. Famous magistrate John Fielding - the Blind Beak to the mob - is to be honoured with a knighthood. Founder of the Runners, London's metropolitan police force, John Fielding is one of several important members of the community who gather at St James's Palace for the investiture. As the invited audience eagerly crane for a first glimpse of the new queen - widely rumoured to be the ugliest the country has ever seen - a terrible accident occurs when one of the crowd, a nobleman George Goward, tumbles down the great staircase to his death. Of all the assembled gathering, not one person saw him begin to fall. Even those standing closest to Goward had their eyes fixed on the royal entrance; his wife, the portly Lady Mary Goward, Jack Morocco, known to some as the Black Buck, the notorious Elizabeth Chaudligh, a lady infamous in certain circles for her talents in the bedroom. Only one person witnessed anything untoward - John Fielding, a blindman. A whispered sentence, an exhalation of breath - these are the only clues available to suggest the fall was no accident. Apothecary John Rawlings, accompanying his friend Fielding to the ceremony, sets out to investigate and despite the fact that his wife Emilia is expecting their first baby is soon drawn into a very intriguing mystery. And it seems that children might in fact be the key to unlocking the puzzle...