Technology may be different in 2060 New York, yet the city is still a place of many cultures and great divides. But as ever, some murders receive more attention than others -- especially those in which the victim is a prominent businessman, found in his Park Avenue apartment, tied to the bed -- and strangled -- with cords of black velvet.

It doesn't surprise Lieutenant Eve Dallas that Thomas Anders's scandalous death is a source of titillation and speculation to the public -- and of humiliation to his family. But while people in the city are talking about it, those close to Anders aren't so anxious to do the same. Fortunately, Eve's billionaire husband, Roarke, happens to own the prime real estate where Thomas Anders's sporting-goods firm is headquartered, giving her some help with access. Before long, she's knocking on doors -- and barging through them -- to look for the answers she needs.

But the facts don't add up. Physical evidence suggests that the victim didn't struggle. The security breach in the apartment indicates that the killer was someone known to the family. And also others things don't add up -- and everyone's alibi checks out, from the wife who was off in the tropics to the nephew who stood to inherit millions. Was this a crime of passion in a kinky game gone wrong -- or a meticulously planned execution? It's up to Dallas to solve this sensational case in which those who seem to be intimates sometimes guard secrets from each other -- and strangers may be connected in unexpected, and deadly, ways....