The body of a smartly-dressed businessman turns up in the yard of Eli Simpson's car workshop. But there's no ID in the pockets and Eli swears he's never seen the man before.

Then a girlfriend turns up with a name, and claims the victim told her he was someone's right hand man. But old fractures and scars, discovered at the autopsy, suggest a more colourful past. For right hand man, DCI Bill Slider and his team read 'enforcer'.

So who was Mr King? Who was he the muscle for? What did he have to do with the Davy Lane project, and the blackmailing of an MP? And, most crucially, what did he know that made someone decide to terminally muscle the muscle?