Detective Inspector Irene Huss is an investigator assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit in Göteborg, Sweden. She is a wife and mother - her husband is a chef and she has twin daughters - and also a judo champion and an avowed feminist in a police department which is still adjusting to the presence of women as officers.

On a rain-drenched November night, she is called to the scene of the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier connected with the first families of Sweden. His mangled body has ladned on the icy ground, just feet away from an old lady walking her dog. Did he fall? Or was he pushed from the balcony of his luxurious duplex apartment?

Before Irene and her colleagues can determine what happened and why, she must tour contemporary Sweden, from the haunts of the highest echelon of Society to the drug addicts, skinheads, and motorcycle gangs that constitute a new threat to the country's liberal ethos.