Suffer the little children becomes a stark reality when dark and sinister practices inside a number of London's Victorian workhouses are revealed to the detectives investigating the murder of a man during a Wagner concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The Scotland Yard detectives become appalled at the cruelty and wickedness bestowed on some infants when forced to live in conditions of hardship and isolation.Following a series of brutally tortured and murdered victims by a man popularly known as 'The Pie Man', Rayner and Bustle become embroiled in the theft of a valuable race horse which is the favourite to win the Derby. But is that incident connected in some way to the murders they are investigating?Bizarre and mysterious circumstances confront the detectives in their search for the notorious killer who leaves behind a trail of devastation.