A breakthrough in paediatric medicine. A battle-scarred tomcat. A tribe in the South American rainforest.

How could they possibly be connected?

Lesbian literary scholar Morgan Byrd has no time for babies, or cats. But when the disappearance of her university's resident tomcat is rapidly followed by baby snatching and murder, Morgan is drawn into the police inquiry, alongside ten-year-old Oliver Cresswell, a maths prodigy turned boy detective with a man-sized secret to hide.

While their input is not always welcome, Detective Inspector Burdock soon finds that he needs their unorthodox assistance to unravel his investigation, filled as it is with red herrings, tumultuous twists and eccentric characters, from academics to members of a closed religious sect.

As for Alka-Seltzer, the disreputable campus cat, the circumstances behind his grisly end will offer an unexpected glimpse into a political heart of darkness...