It starts out with a protagonist a Philadelphia detective who is assigned to investigate the murder of a rich business woman. He is a veteran of twenty years as a detective and is considered very good at his job. During the course of his investigation he interviews a person of interest who is the vice president of the victims company. He interviews her for a second time and there starts a romantic connection between the two. The antagonist in this book is a Russian operative named Jason who is tasked to acquire secrets from a high level American diplomat. The romantic interest in this novel name is Susan Conway and she is the vice president of the Sykes Empire. Cynthia Sykes is the victim in this novel.