Keď spisovateľa Owena Quinea vyhlásia za nezvestného, jeho manželka sa obráti na súkromného detektíva Cormorana Strikea. Najskôr si myslí, že sa len na niekoľko dní vytratil, aby mohol byť osamote – ako to už v minulosti urobil – a tak od detektíva chce len, aby ho našiel a priviedol domov. Počas Strikeovho vyšetrovania sa však zistí, že v prípade ide o viac ako si Quineova manželka myslí. Nadaný autor práve dokončil „jedovatý“ rukopis knihy, ktorej vydanie by mohlo mnohým ľuďom skomplikovať alebo dokonca zničiť život. A je tak množstvo podozrivých, ktorí by mali dôvod spisovateľa umlčať...
Steve Martini crafts a gripping narrative that resonates with contemporary anxieties and future headlines. Jocelyn "Joss" Cole, a weary public defender from Los Angeles, seeks solace in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. Her only notable case involves a group of commercial fishermen afflicted by a mysterious illness that defies medical explanation, which Joss suspects is linked to industrial activities. Suddenly, Dean Belden, a wealthy entrepreneur, approaches her for legal assistance in establishing a business in the islands. Shortly after, Belden is summoned before a federal grand jury. Tragically, he dies in a catastrophic float plane explosion on Seattle's Lake Union just after his testimony, leaving Joss in the dark about the grand jury proceedings. Meanwhile, Gideon Van Ry, a nuclear fission expert at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, grapples with the unsettling disappearance of two tactical nuclear devices from a former Soviet storage facility. These weapons were last known to be packed for shipment to Belden Electronics, a company Gideon cannot trace. His only lead points to Joss Cole, the attorney who incorporated the elusive firm, intertwining their fates in a web of intrigue and danger.
