When the CEO of a British supermarket chain notices a sudden and unexplained drop in net income, Ottawa corporate fraud investigator Hamilton St. James is called in to investigate. But what should have been a typical case of corporate malfeasance is derailed when St. James follows a hunch about a murder case that extends from London to Germany and beyond, involving kidnapping, identity theft and betrayal. In his cool, inimitable style, St. James takes over from Scotland Yard, putting noses out of joint as he investigates a crime much bigger than the one he was called in to solve.