Suddenly the world of international politics and terrorism confronts the small world of Fox River on the outskirts of Chicago: an assassin's bullet misses the Israeli consul as he watches the Cubs at Wrigley Field with Fox's ardent Zionist, Aaron Leib. When, a day or so later, Leib himself is assassinated on the local golf course, the question arises as to which man had been the original target. Captain Phillip Keegan, Fox River’s chief of detectives, feels, despite the FBI and CIA, that this crime belongs to him.

Little by little, he and Father Dowling uncover a nest of sinister complications: small arms being sold to the Arabs; the panicked effort of an ex-member of an American terrorist group to change her identity; far-flung amorous conquests of Aaron Lieb as well as his lobbying activities. After the drowned body of the arms manufacturer’s son is found, the plot whirls until the wicked are satisfactorily brought to brook.

The fourth Father Dowling Mystery continues the high level of its predecessors, a series that has brought delight and wide acclaim.