Take as long as you need, they said. Enjoy Oxford. Get better. But it didn't turn out that way...

Recovering from a near-fatal shooting, British diplomat Adam White is sent on a sabbatical to Oxford University. He soon becomes embroiled in the murder of an Oxford colleague. There is no shortage of suspects: the victim was widely disliked and feared. Among those affected are Sir Julian de Crespigny, director of the diplomacy programme, Catriona MacKay, the programme administrator, and Dame Gillian King, master of St Christopher's College. MI6 are also involved, through the shadowy figure of John Smith, tasked with recruiting spies at Oxford.

Impatient with the speed of police investigations, Adam sets out to solve the murder himself, his characteristically incautious approach putting him rapidly in jeopardy. In the past, against the odds, he has escaped death three times. Has his luck finally run out? Meanwhile, Adam's partner, Alison, becomes emotionally involved with a colleague in New York, not suspecting that she too will be drawn into danger as the fates of the various characters converge.

The story concludes with a denouement both violent and shocking. As readers of Alan Hunt's previous books have come to expect, nothing is quite as it seems...