Margaret Campbell had finally decided to leave Beijing---and the man she loved---and return home to the States. She had first come to Beijing to conduct a seminar on her specialty, forensic pathology, for the city's police. The invitation turned out to ask for more than she expected; she was thrust into the search for a murderer. This was how she met and came to fall in love with the Beijing police detective Li Yan. Although they began as enemies, the attraction between them was overwhelming---until personal tragedies pulled them apart. Now the police need an answer to a series of gruesome murders. Four men have been killed; the first three were Chinese and the fourth man was born in China but became an American in his youth. All were victims of what looks like ritual sacrifices.