Chief Superintendent Caelin Morrow of the Commonwealth Constabulary is the most hated cop in the entire Rim Sector. And with excellent reason. She heads the Sector's Professional Compliance Bureau, which hunts for corrupt Commonwealth officials, whether they're police officers, members of the military, judges, bureaucrats, and even colonial governors. Her unit also investigates Constabulary officers destined for senior appointments, to make sure they're not hiding a habit of taking bribes, abusing their powers, or worse. When Mission Colony's governor complains about the man recently appointed as head of her star system's Constabulary unit, Deputy Chief Constable Maras turns to Caelin Morrow because something doesn't smell right. Morrow had vetted Assistant Commissioner Braband less than a year earlier, and he came up squeaky clean. Honest cops don't go bad in the space of a few months. But within hours of landing on Mission Colony, Morrow and her team must take charge of a murder investigation before a precarious situation spirals out of control. The case, involving the star system's leading citizens and highest officials, will take them into the rotten heart of colonial darkness. There, corruption, organized crime, and corporate malfeasance combine in a deadly brew that threatens not only Morrow's very existence but the political stability of an entire sector.