Harvard professor Henry Spearman--an ingenious amateur sleuth who uses economics to size up every situation--is sent by an American entrepreneur to Cambridge, England. Spearman's mission is to scout out the purchase of the most famous house in economic science: Balliol Croft, the former home of Professor Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes's teacher and the font of modern economic theory. After a shocking murder, Spearman realizes that his own life is in danger as he finds himself face-to-face with the most diabolical killer in his career.