"The new wave of art was first heralded by the graffiti artist who attacked the city wallsartist attacks architecture. Then it progressed to the vandal artist who scarred the art of othersartist attacks art. And now we see a further escalation in the performance-art murder of Dean Starrartist attacks artist. This is the new waveArt Terrorism." So wrote Andrew Bliss, art critic, alcoholic, and serious, state of the art Bloomingdales' shopper.
Bliss was not celebrated for his radical opinions, and no one suspected he might know something about a terrible crime committed twelve years earlier in one Avril Koozeman's galleries. Inspector Louis Markowitz, who commanded the Special Crimes Section in New York, had worked on that original double homicide, and now his adopted daughter, Detective Sergeant Kathy Mallory, wants to reopen the old caseagainst the Department's wishes. A number of people in high places are also very keen that their secrets remain buried with the dead.