It is 1895, and the worst winter in years grips the streets of Brooklyn. As the city prepares to be united with New York City across the river, a strike by trolley workers ignites one of the most contentious labour conflicts in the nation's history.In the face of overwhelming opposition, the mayor - a shareholder in one of the largest transportation companies - vows to keep the trolleys running, and calls in the National Guard. It's a disaster waiting to happen - and the waiting ends pretty quickly when a cop drops dead in a crowd of protesters with two bullet holes in his back.Marshall Webb, reporting on the strike for "Harper's Weekly", suspects that the incident somehow stands at the centre of the tremors that are tearing Brooklyn apart on the eve of losing its independence. To bring peace to an erupting city, he joins forces with Buck Morehouse, a detective with his own methods of establishing law and order, and Vivian O'Connell, a social reformer with contacts in both extremes of New York society. As the heat continues to rise in the frozen streets, only the truth they seek will expose a tangle of corruption thick enough to strangle a city - and murder again...