Professor Andy Stanard finds Dr. Alex Collinge bludgeoned to death in a campus stairwell. Tongues had been wagging at Chesapeake Bay University about Collinge for a while. He'd ditched Astrid, his wife of over twenty years, and moved in with a young sociology professor, Sheila. He then dumped Sheila and their infant son to hook up with a lithe yoga instructor. Suspicion immediately falls on Collinge's abandoned family. Astrid is the beneficiary of his substantial life insurance policy, and before their marriage imploded, she started a heated affair with a Nordic biology professor. Collinge's two sons are also suspects, though. Markus had a vicious argument with his father the day before his death, and his younger brother, Matthias, quarreled with his father only minutes before he was killed. When a bloody pipe is found concealed in Astrid's office, Matthias and his mom are charged with murder. However, Professor Stanard doesn't believe the case is closed, as other people-even at the university-had motive, too. He uncovers a link between Collinge's death and the murder of a naval officer the year before. He quickly tumbles down a twisted trail into the dark secret of a vicious killer.