Progeny of the adder

Homicide detective Harry Picard investigates a series of brutal, inexplicable murders: three emaciated women found in the Potomac River with their throats slashed. Each victim was last seen with a hulking man in black. Picard's investigation pulls him into a terrifying world of passion, violence, and ancient fears, forcing him to confront an enemy as horrifying as humanity's oldest superstitions.