Winner of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger AwardSyria, 1970. Michael Howell has kept his family's Middle Eastern business enterprises going through a decade of takeovers, war, and revolution, thanks in part to his office manager, Teresa, who is also his mistress. One late night at the office, they discover men working overtimeproducing unauthorized bombs for the Palestine Action Force. Worse, this guerrilla terrorist group is not deterred by their discoveryrather, they will enlist Howell and Teresa's unwilling help in carrying out their plan.