The tall, dark, and lovely Fanny Dinmont arrives at her weekend cottage late one night to find a murdered man on her sitting-room floor. Even more puzzling, Fanny recognizes him from a chance meeting that day in the London office of Sir Stafford Williams, head of the secretive business empire TROD. Fanny finds herself surrounded by suspects -- the powerful Sir Stafford himself; his sinister misogynist deputy, Ian Ramsey; Fanny's bitter ex-husband, and the unpredictable American Gaylord Poyntz. With her life in danger, Fanny's only hope is the surprising secret that the great TROD empire must now yield.