A near-future science fiction novel from the author of The Dream of the White Elephant and The Art of the Stab

Emily Adaline Cotchin has only just arrived at university for the start of her graduate studies when she is both summoned and sent back home to Iowa, to collect a bequest and deliver a message. Where she finds that the assurances she was given, that neither task will trouble her unduly nor take much of her time, prove to be overly optimistic.

Because the next-door neighbor, her advisor-to-be, a mighty stranger, her parents, a wealthy scion, representatives of law enforcement, a missing person: all of them manage to complicate things for her. What will she come to understand, what hidden messages will she uncover? And what can be done with those revelations before it is too late?