When a charred figure is found beside Sir Christopher Wren's Monument to the Great Fire of London, Nigella Parker, Detective Inspector with the City Police, is dragged into a case pitting her against a murderous artist creating sculptures using burnt flesh. Nigella partners with Colm O Leary of Scotland Yard, her former lover until O'Leary made the mistake of uttering three little words. More than 350 years earlier, while looking for their friend, a second pair of detectives - a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a royal fireworks maker - discovered foul play in the supposedly accidental destruction of St. Paul's Cathedral... but did that same devilry lead to murder? And can these centuries-old crimes help catch a modern-day murderer?