What makes a marriage of two decades begin to unravel? There are no simple answers. Alex and Miriam met-cute at the famous Strand bookstore in Manhattan. It was love at first sight for both of them. Their marriage was blissful. They had a son. All wonderful. But in every family there are secrets and lies, and theirs was no different. An unloving father, The suicide of a beloved sibling. A hidden diary, revealing more secrets, An unknown sibling. A son who is gay and wants nothing more than to be on the stage. An unrewarding job. A lousy boss. A sexual predator. Suddenly a life going nowhere. But there is something more. Alex is on a quest, not just for knowledge and truth. He wants desperately to be a good husband, a good father, a good son. He doesn't know if he can achieve this but he knows he must try.

Jake Wanderman is not your average retired teacher and Shakespeare maven. He has tangled with the Russian Mafia in Moscow and assassins in Jerusalem and always come out on top. Now his childhood friend's long-lost daughter is a suspect in a murder investigation and Jake's help is needed. The daughter flees to London and he follows, searching for clues. Instead, he uncovers rape, suicide, and secret identities. And falling in love with the female detective on the case only complicates the issue.Like Sam Spade phoning in his reports to Effie, Jake Wanderman talks us through this corkscrew case in his own inimitable, Brooklyn-wise-guy style while quoting Shakespeare at every opportunity.