Part one: the unusual suspects. The ritual in the dark ; A bitter sin ; Conversations about a hanged woman ; A Bolshevik soul in a Fabian muzzle ; Wearing their criminological spurs ; The art of self-tormenting

Part two: the rules of the game. Setting a good example to the Mafia ; The Fungus-story and the meaning of life ; Wistful plans for killing off wives ; The least likely person ; The best advertisement in the world

Part three: looking to escape. "Human life's the cheapest thing there is" ; Echoes of war ; Murder, transvestism and suicide during a trapeze act ; A severed head in a fish-bag ; "Have you hear of sexual perversions?" ; Clearing up the mess ; What it means to be stuck for money ; Neglecting Demosthenes in favour of Freud

Part four: taking on the police. Playing games with Scotland Yard ; Why was the shift put in the boiler-hole? ; Trent's very last case ; A coffin entombed in a crypt of granite

Part five: justifying murder. Knives engraved with "Blood and honour" ; Touching with a fingertip the fringe of great events ; Collecting murderers ; No judge or jury but my own conscience

Part six: the end game. Playing the grandest game in the world ; The work of a pestilential creature ; Frank to the point of indecency ; Shocked by the brethren

Part seven: unravelling the mysteries. Murder goes on forever.