Dirty pictures, secret wars and human beasts. Detective Maier is back to investigate the politics of murder.

When award-winning German conflict photographer Martin Ritter disappears in a boating accident in Thailand, the nation mourns the loss of a cultural icon. A few weeks later, Detective Maier's agency in Hamburg gets a call from Ritter's wife. Her husband has been seen alive on the streets of Bangkok.

Traveling to Thailand, all Maier finds is trouble and a photograph. But as soon as Maier puts his hands on the Monsoon Ghost Image, the detective turns from hunter to hunted. The CIA, a doctor with a penchant for violence and a mysterious woman known as the Wicked Witch Of The East all want to get their fingers on Ritter's most important piece of work.

From the concrete canyons of the Thai capital to the savage jungles and hedonist party islands of southern Thailand, Maier and his sidekick Mikhail race against formidable foes to discover some of the darkest truths of our time - and save their lives.