The story begins with a meeting between a mysterious stranger and the local Taliban in a mountain village somewhere in the middle-east and shifts 7000 miles away to a million dollar condo in Manayunk, a tony neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where a young woman who was schedled to appear the next day as a witness in a grand jury probe of munincipal corruption, is murdered. Is there a connection between these two seemingly unrelated events? Veteran Homicide Dectective Isadore Ichowitz and Assistant District Attorney Jack Regan set out to solve the crime. Their investigation of the Larson murder leads them to a trail of suspects, many of whom are 'players' connected to Regan's probe of municipal corruption. As the investigation proceeds, Regan and Ichowitz encounter multiple homicides, a plot to assassinate the Vice President and Secretary of State, and other crimes with international implications. The identity of Larson's killer and the connection between these events, however, continues to elude the detective and the young Assistant D.A. Along the way Regan becomes romantically involved with Kate O'Malley, the new chef at the Grape Tavern in Manayunk. O'Malley recently emigrated from Ireland to keep her son safe from his Northern Irish father's family and their wide ranging criminal enterprises. Follow Regan and Ichowitz as their investigation takes them across the iconic neighborhoods of historic Philadelphia from the lofty Main Line and Rittenhouse Square to North Philly's Strawberry Mansion at the opposite end of the economic spectrum and always leading back to Manayunk, as they try to solve the murder in this fast paced thriller.