Auction City, 1830—corruption, smuggling, and graft run wild in the federal trade district, and no less so a dread of the unnatural. Gangs of resurrection men have forced Ned Tittle—coward, snitch, and procurer of human teeth—out of business at the gallows. One night he makes the best score of a career: a thousand dollars' worth of raw material for the denturist. But along the way he becomes a witness and a target for the entire criminal underworld of the young United States—and for something risen up from hell.