The major social concerns are those of the previous novels in the series, justice and responsibility for others, particularly children. These concerns unite early in the novel when Lady Cray, a character from the previous novel, The Old Contemptibles (1991) asks Jury to look into the death of the nephew of a friend; the friend dies in the Tate Gallery in the novel's opening pages, and Lady Cray believes the death was largely caused by the woman's grief over her nephew's death. There being no living relatives, Lady Cray takes on responsibility for solving the nephew's murder and hires Jury to go to Philadelphia during his vacation.

Homeless characters in Baltimore are important in the novel's plot and reflect Grimes's social awareness. Milos, the character in the opening scene, is blind and almost completely deaf but is far from helpless. Grimes presents the homeless characters sympathetically but...