Possibly Zhong Fong is the only person in all of China who can completely decipher Lily's English, and he hasn't heard from her or anyone else in fifty-four months. His own English is excellent, but it has been that long since he had a use for it, fifty-four months since Shanghai Head of Special Investigations Zhong had been reduced to convicted political felon Zhong and exiled to the remote and barren north country, far from the crowded, bustling world he knew. There has been a mass murder, the victims all influential foreigners. In all the area, Zhong is the only investigator with the experience and knowledge to handle such an important case, the only one available who can possibly protect China's rulers from something far worse than worldwide embarrassment.