Shanghai in 1935 is a twentieth-century Babylon, an expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself.<br/><br/>Into this, Rowland Sinclair arrives from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. Rowland is under strict instructions to commit to nothing… but a brutal murder makes that impossible.<br/><br/>As suspicion falls on him, Rowland enters a desperate bid to find answers in a city as glamorous as it is dangerous, where tai-pans and tycoons rule, and politics and vice are entwined with commerce.<br/><br/>Once again, the only people Rowland can truly trust are an artist, a poet and a free-spirited sculptress.