In Istanbul - the golden city on the Bosphorus - ancient myths and modern evils are at work...

On a buzzing street in the fashionable district of Beyoglu, a young man drops dead. Ümit Kavas's death was natural but the autopsy betrays a shocking truth: his last meal was human flesh. Under desperate pressure from their superiors, Inspector Cetin Ikmen and his colleague Mehmet Süleyman begin their most obscure investigation yet.

How did Ümit Kavas, apparently a good, liberal man, come to partake in the greatest taboo of all? Did he act alone? And who was his victim? Soon they find themselves embroiled in a dark web of underground worlds: of Turkey's old secular elite; a community of squatters; and a new gastronomy scene breaking every boundary. But where does the truth lie?