Britain has entered the twentieth century. Queen Victoria is dead and the Boer War rages on. Inspector Lestrade is called upon to investigate the brutal death of Ralph Childers MP in the first of a series of perplexing murders which clearly has a link with politics. Is someone trying to destroy the government? And who is responsible? Was it the Fenians who placed a bomb in the Palace of Westminster? Or have the Suffragettes decided on a more drastic course of action to further their cause?