Here begins an extraordinary alliance - and a brutal and tender, shocking, and electrifying adventure to end all adventures. It starts with a simple note. Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated. Determined to find out why, Miss Temple takes the first step in a journey that will propel her into a dizzyingly seductive, utterly shocking world beyond her imagining - and set her on a collision course with a killer and a spy - in a bodice-ripping, action-packed roller-coaster ride of suspense, betrayal, and richly fevered dreams.