It's the early 1900s, and weather-beaten cowhand Hewey Calloway rides in from the vast Texas range after learning his brother's farm is in danger of foreclosure. Arriving in a nearby town, what the middle-aged roughrider finds amazes yet threatens him--automobiles and civilized society.

In his magnificent new novel, with rights sold in six countries before publication, McCarry returns to the world of his legendary character, Paul Christopher, the crack intelligence agent who is as skilled at choosing a fine wine as he is at tradecraft, at once elegant and dangerous, sophisticated and rough-and-ready. As the novel begins, Paul Christopher, now an aging but remarkably fit 70ish, is dining at home with his cousin Horace, also an ex-agent....

Kidnapped and kept in solitary confinement for 20 years, Joe Doucett has suddenly been set free without a word of explanation. Obsessed with finding those who imprisoned him, Doucett wreaks havoc upon his captors, unaware his freedom is part of a plan and his true punishment's about to begin.

After being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, Daesu is released and sets out to find his abductors.