Breslau 1933: the mutilated body of a young woman, an aristocrat, is found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in her slashed stomach, a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called to head an investigation that leads deep into the city’s dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers.