Book excerpt: An ex-Scotland Yard officer, detective inspector Don Masters has been educated in turning crime into profit for himself. He and his team of detectives, some - not that many naturally - are scrupulously honest and kept out of the loop. He knows how to get results: with his firm of informants he lines his own pockets and greases the palms of others. Gaining privileges along the way Masters makes deals in his beat in Walthamstead that let some villains off the hook and incarerates the innocent which, from a police point of view, is how it should be. Sex is a requirement for a CID officer and Masters and some of his colleagues dive in with gusto. But over-the-side-sex has it's pitfalls that grab Masters and several of his colleagues by the testicles and sets a chain of events that end in murders.