SPECIAL OPERATIONS INTELLIGENCE OFFICER SUE O’CONNELL has found a way to break free from mundane office desk work. She and her colleagues from the SOF HUMINT cell are going to hunt down two Balkan war criminals visiting Germany.

Better still, Sue is going to get a chance to work with her boyfriend, who is also based in Germany. They simply need to prove that the travelers are war criminals, then turn the information over to the German authorities. Meanwhile, Sue’s mother, Barbara O’Connell, is working on a project to return art looted during World War II to the original owners. The project involves identifying if the art for sale at a Frankfurt auction house belonged to a Jewish family in 1939. If so, the family can file a lawsuit to stop the sale and arrange for the return of their heirlooms.

Both projects seem straightforward: Collect the information and turn the operations over to the Germans. But, like so much in the history of the O’Connell family, nothing is truly easy or without risks. When the two operations collide with a scheme involving a vast, new playground for ambition, treachery reaches startling heights.