Thriller. Detective and mystery stories. It's the final night of the glorious Chicago World's Fair of 1893 when, outside his palatial home, Mayor Carter Harrison meets with an assassin's bullet.Across the city in an alleyway, Pinkerton Detective Nell Hartigan loses her life in a brutal stabbing. Both killings prove a cruel blow to Inspector Alastair Ransom, for he'd liked and admired both mayor and Pinkerton agent. Harrison's murder sparks riots, but it's an open and shut case against his attacker. However, Nell's murder is not so easily solved, as Alastair uncovers tentacles in the highest strata of Chicago society, feeding prejudices about the rich and powerful. William Pinkerton, Nell's employer and Ransom's own superiors place obstacles in his way. Determined to locate and prosecute Nell's killer, no matter what, Alastair is himself arrested on charges of multiple murder. From the beginning, a case to die for.