Bruno Courr ges is thrilled when he receives an invitation to the lavish birthday celebration of his childhood hero, World War II flying ace Marco "the Patriarch" Desaix. But when the party ends in the death of one of Marco's longtime friends, Gilbert, it turns into another day on the job for St. Denis's chief of police.

All signs point to a tragic accident, but Bruno isn't so sure, for there is more to the Desaix family's lives and loyalties than meets the eye. There's Victor, the Patriarch's son and Gilbert's sometimes rival, and Victor's seductive wife, Madeleine, whose roving eye intrigues Bruno even more than her fierce political ambitions. Not to mention the Patriarch himself--did his postwar Soviet ties intersect too closely with Gilbert's career in Cold War intelligence? As Bruno's entanglement with the Desaix family becomes more complicated, his inquiries into Gilbert's life will become a deadly threat to his own.