Detective Julian Palmer is taking a break from homicide-or so she thinks. Signing on to assist in a simple insurance investigation, she soon finds herself enmeshed in something far more elaborate. It's a bizarre case, one that leads her from a dead investment banker with a mysterious briefcase, to a renegade inventor in the New Mexico desert, and ultimately, to the investing frenzy of Wall Street in the late 1990's. It also leads her to an unexpected romance with Tom Hartley-a man as lonely as Julian, and as passionate about uncovering the truth. Welcome to the twists, turns and switchbacks that are Jonathan Stone's trademark. A world of puzzles and mirrors, where the possibilities move as fast as the characters. Where the trail goes from cold to warm to searing hot. And, where a beautiful young banker seems to wield more power dead than alive.