In 2060 New York, some murders still get more attention than others, especially those in which the victim is a prominent businessman, found in his Park Avenue apartment, tied to the bed--and strangled--with cords of black velvet. Fortunately, homicide cop Lt. Eve Dallas's billionaire husband Roarke happens to own the prime real estate where Thomas Anders's sporting-goods firm was headquartered, giving her some help with access. Before long, she's knocking on doors--or barging through them--to look for the answers she needs.

But some things don't add up--and everyone's alibi checks out, from the wife who was off in the tropics to the nephew who stood to inherit millions. Was this a crime of passion--or a carefully planned execution? It's up to Dallas to solve a sensational case in which those who seem to be intimates sometimes guard secrets from each other--and strangers may be connected in unexpected, and deadly, ways...