When the Police Are Called to a Building on New York's Upper East Side, Detective Mike Chapman and Assistant Da Alexandra Cooper Respond Quickly. a Resident, Tina Barr, is Alleged to Have Been Assaulted, but She Refuses to Co-Operate With Their Enquiries. Within a Day Alex and Chapman Are Back at the Same Building, Confronted With the Body of a Woman, Battered to Death and With a Mysterious Jewel-Encrusted Book Beside Her. but the Victim Isn't Tina Barr, and Tina Has Disappeared. the Book is Part of a Rare Collection at the New York Public Library and Alex and Chapman Are Plunged Into the Deadly World of the Super-Rich - Those Who Protect Their Fortunes and Collections More Carefully Than Other People's Lives.