On a cold and gloomy morning the mutilated body of Armand Hagopian, a prosperous Armenian businessman is found hanging from the gate of his toxic dump. The implacable finger of the law points to the decedent's illegal Mexican workers, but crime reporter Samuel Hamilton, with the nose of a bloodhound and inexhaustible tenacity decides to investigate the death on his own. Samuel, with the help of Janak Marachak, the atttorney for the accused, uncovers a sordid world of ancient revenge and violence. Once again, William C. Gordon presents us with a novel situated in San Francisco in the 1960's that captures the reader from the beginning and maintains the suspense until the very end.