Moments after his conviction for a murder he did not commit, Benjamin Weaver is accosted by a stranger who cunningly slips a lock pick and a file into his hands. In an instant, Weaver understands two things: someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to see him condemned to hang – and another, equally mysterious agent, is determined to see him free.

So begins A Spectacle of Corruption, which heralds the return of Benjamin Weaver the hero of the Edgar Award winning novel, A Conspiracy of Paper. After a daring escape from prison, Weaver must face a new challenge to his thief-taking skills: how to prove himself innocent of a crime when the courts have already shown they want only to see him hang.

To discover the truth and clear his name, he will have to understand the motivations behind a secret scheme to extort a priest, uncover double-dealings in the unrest among London’s dockworkers, and expose the conspiracy that links the plot against him to the looming national election – an election with the potential to spark a revolution and topple a monarchy.

Unable to show his face in public, Weaver pursues his inquiry in the guise of a wealthy merchant who seeks to involve himself in the political scene. But Weaver soon finds that the world of polite society and politics is filled with schemers and plotters, men who pursue riches and power – and those who seek to return the son of the deposed king to the throne. Desperately navigating a labyrinth of politicians, crime lords, assassins and spies, Weaver learns that, in an election year, little is what it seems and that the truth comes with a staggeringly high cost.