The book has minor scuffs. (see photo) Who is murdering harmless old men? Who is trying to poison the Patrician? As autumn mists grip the city of Ankh-Morpork, the City Watch faces the difficult task of tracking down an invisible killer. Perhaps the golems know something, but these serious creatures of clay, who work day and night and have never caused anyone the slightest trouble, suddenly start committing suicide…

Not that the Watch doesn't have enough problems of its own. There's the werewolf suffering from pre-full moon tension, Corporal Nobbs, who gets possessed by nobility and starts hobnobbing with high society, and then there's the new dwarf recruit. Something isn't right with him. There's definitely something strange about him. If nothing else, his earrings and eyeshadow.

Who can you trust when the streets are full of people, the shadows full of conspirators, and all the clues point in the wrong direction? Commander Sir Samuel Vimes discovers that the truth doesn't necessarily hide in the gloomy and dark streets of the night city.