Dr. Adolphus Hatton is a pathologist who deals with the dead on a daily basis. With his assistant, they work to determine causes of death and learn more about the human body. He must also deal with an Inspector from Scotland Yard whose morals are questionable at best.

A series of violent murders whose victims seem to have no connection will draw the Inspector and the professor into an Irish plot designed to cause as much damage as possible. Dr. Hatton will find himself drawn to the the wife of one of the victims as he works to discover the identity of the killers.

Dark, gritty, and very often gruesome in the descriptions of the the autopsies, D.E. Meredith has created an eye-opening series that is the start of the coroner and medical examiner system that we utilize today. We see the chief characters as people with needs,desires and regrets, not just officials that do what it takes to finish the job. Fans of medical mysteries should give THE DEVIL'S RIBBON and the Hatton and Roumande series a try.