A wealthy woman begins arrangements for her own funeral and is strangled six hours later, and into this situation enters a personally secretive private detective and an author struggling to exert some control over the story. The result is a metafictional thriller introducing a recalcitrant detective and his author assistant, with the two set to appear in a series continuing from this instalment. Fans of the BBC }Sherlock{ series will find abundant momentum and twists to contend with here.