Speechless

A body of a Polish man has just been pulled from the River Taff in Cardiff.  Although he is supposed to be off duty, DI John Marco has been assigned the case.  His tongue had been cut out and placed in his pocket with his wallet.  When the victim's flat is visited, it is discovered to have been tossed and another tongue is found.  The following day, at the victim's place of work, three more tongues are found in lockers.  The pathologist determines that they are animal tongues.

Marco is sure that one of the local crime bosses, Frankie Prince, has something to do with the death, as he had employed the victim as a part time doorman at his club.  Not long after this, another body turns up at the building where the first victim had lived.

Marco learns that Polish money and the Russian mafia are bringing in young girls to work in brothels.  When one of the young girls turns up, he learns that a computer with compromising pictures on it is missing, and that is what the criminals are searching for.  However, that same girl would later turn up dead and with her tongue cut out, too.

Marco's investigation will lead him to Warsaw and back, before a final resolution develops.  Author Stephen Puleston has created an exciting thriller in this, the first of a series about DI John Marco.