Forty years after its abolition, the Transatlantic slave trade is more lucrative than ever; even the new steamships of the Royal Navy are powerless to catch the swift brigs of the slavers. Only one man is ruthless enough to beat the slavers at their own game. Risking death and disgrace, Lieutenant Kitt Killigrew infiltrates the crew of a slave ship to discover the whereabouts of the biggest slave market on the coast of West Africa, owned by shadowy megalomanic Francisco Salazar. From the smoke-filled gentlemen's clubs of London to the steamy jungles of the Guinea Coast, Killigrew embarks on a journey fraught with murder and betrayal.