This is book 13 in a series I have not heard of written by an author unfamiliar to me.  It was at a library book sale and I decided to take a chance on it.  The murder involves a villain known as the Toddler, who commits a crime witnessed by a traveller woman.  This sets in motion the rest of the events in the book.  Peter McGarr is the Chief Superintendent investigating the crimes here, which are both brutal and unusual.  The nature of the travellers’ distrust of the police and the Toddler’s far reaching power makes for a difficult investigation with many twists and turns before reaching the conclusion.

A very dark, somewhat depressing police procedural.  I won’t judge it very harshly, simply because I didn’t read the earlier books and don’t know the character’s back story and may be missing important details by reading this one as a stand alone.