The carnage in the doctor s office is appalling - and the police think one of the dead women is Peter Ashton s wife Harriet. Ashton s relief when she turns up unharmed is shattered, though, when he learns that Harriet is both bitterly unhappy and somehow involved in the deaths. Ashton soon realizes that Jill Sheridan, his ambitious, malevolent and ruthless former lover, is part of the story. So is a Latvian woman who knew too much about Harriet Ashton. A computer hacker and a London private detective lead to another tantalizing strand of the mystery. But even Ashton is astonished by the Indian connection. It is clear that the complicated trail of murder, deception and high technology is leading straight to a controversial royal visit to India. Ashton finds himself defending the Queen from a man who wants to start a war - and may have enlisted the Russians to help him.