Threatened with the ending of his teaching career

Unless he publishes scholarly work soon, Dawson Goldsmith embarks on writing a literary biography of his uncle, who became a successful and noteworthy novelist after a career in journalism.

Discovery of secrets

He discovers that his uncle was a man with secrets that not only determined the course of his life and his early death.

Turning point

That knowledge jolted Dawson out of the tranquility of his sheltered life into a world of danger that required fortitude and action unlike anything required of him before.