On a sordid, damp night in London, Rollo Hastings fails in his obligation to collect Vanessa Inge after a performance at Wigmore Hall.

His delay facilitates her murder and leaves the world bereft of one of its most talented violinists.

It also leaves Rollo Hastings in a very sticky situation. Because along with her mutilated body, he discovers a token. A message clearly aimed at Rollo himself.

Inspector Stella Crooke can smell a phoney a mile off, and Rollo Hastings reeks of intrigue and subterfuge. The image he presents to London society reflects his wealth, charm, and success in business, but Stella knows that he’s hiding something. Something more than just his convoluted business affairs.

Maybe Vanessa Inge died trying to keep her historic violin from being stolen from her, but the deeper Stella Crooke looks, the more tarnished the thin veneer that Hastings and Inge have used to gloss over their complex lives appears. Rumours of orchestral manoeuvres in the night abound, along with hints of espionage and dangerous criminal connections.

Rollo cannot bring himself to believe that Vanessa’s murder has anything to do with his own business activities, but he needs to be certain. With the help of the delicious and terrifyingly efficient, Gina Ginelli, he embarks on a journey of discovery that knocks at the doors of the elite of London, Paris and Milan society.

What he discovers will profoundly change his life, and through his evolving relationship with Stella Crooke he will experience the antithesis of his life with Vanessa Inge. The diligent Police Officer is beauty in a world full of obscene glamour. She is goodness in a society that only respects greed. And she offers him a way out.

The means to escape the maze that his life has become.

If only he can keep her from arresting him, and more importantly, stay alive long enough to find an appropriate untangling from the intricate web that he has spun for himself.