The Reverend Charles Howard once sat in judgment of Toronto's poor and assessed their applications for the workhouse. Now he has been found dead: stabbed, beaten, and robbed of his watch and boots. Is it simply a case of burglary gone wrong, or has one of the unfortunates the reverend turned away taken their revenge on him? Detective Murdoch's investigation takes him deep into the Dickensian world of Toronto's workhouses and the destitute souls who fill them as he sets out to discover who really murdered the reverend.