Elinor Grace is dead, and her granddaughter Karen along with the family lawyer, Mitchell, feel that it was murder, so they hire an independent Forensic Pathologist to do a autopsy.  Dr. Rob Craig concludes that Elinor was indeed murdered, but the police don't buy it so that leaves Dr. Craig and Mici Smith to investigate on their own. Their investigation leads to a insurance company called Life Benefits, seems that a lot of their clients have died lately. Dr. Eric Martin, who works for Life Benefits, talks to Rob and Mici, and he turns up dead also. Phone calls start coming in to the police and to Rob to check out a Master X. 

I read this book in one night. It was so compelling, suspenseful, and masterfully written. Dr. Rob Craig and Mici Smith are great characters with a lot of depth. Master X is vile, perverse, and a sadist of the worst kind; he has no -conscious of any kind.