January 1983: Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag is getting married to the love of his life Merilee at New York City Hall. Hoagy's college chum, Ezra Spooner, stands up for him. Merilee's lovely cousin, Phoebe, stands up for her. After they say 'I do' and pop open the Dom Perignon, Phoebe somberly announces that she and her husband, the legendary adventurer and old money multi-millionaire Junior Singleton, are now officially divorced.

Phoebe isn't asking for much of Junior's fortune in the divorce—just $1 million and their gorgeous townhouse in the East Sixties, which she intends to sell. In fact, she'd love to sell it to Hoagy and Merilee.

The newlyweds agree to tour the home and find that it's almost exactly what they’re looking for. The only drawback—and it's a mighty big one—is that they find Junior dead on the floor of his dressing room with a steak knife plunged into his left eyeball.



Who would want to kill Junior Singleton? Plenty of people, as it turns out. As the NYPD's top Homicide Lieutenant, Meyer Golden, pursues the case, he finds it unfolding in several different directions, and Hoagy gets drawn deeper and deeper into the fascinating and utterly bizarre world of New York City's elite.