Axel Spade would not have liked the way he died. Aninternational fugitive, Spade would have preferred being gored by a bullor gunned down by Interpol to dying quietly in his bed. But a weakheart claimed him in his sleep, and so Chester Drum, Washington PI andthe closest thing Spade had to a friend, scatters his ashes in theAtlantic.Drum’s old flame, Marianne Baker, is byhis side, but she leaves before grief has a chance to reignite theirfaded passion. That night, Drum is awoken by a KGB operative who haskidnapped Marianne. Axel Spade is alive, the agent insists, and he wantsDrum to find him. To save Marianne, Drum will do the impossible, andbring Axel Spade back from the dead.