"The most puzzling aspect of Rosalinda Evelyn's suicide was that she shot herself with a in the head with a Magnum 8mm automatic just five hours after having won the Critics' Choice award for beat actress."
In his most bizarre case, Anglo Indian Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Mick Chandra and his partner, Hong Kong-born Elizabeth Change, face the challenge of exposing a sex and suicide cult, the Oracle of Baal, which persuades its clients that death is the way to ultimate is the way to ultimate transformation and eternal truth. But before these vulnerable believers kill themselves, they are coerced into signing over their financial assets to the Oracle's leaders.
The story is carried by a diverse cast of characters: Dr. Solomon Deal, a professor at the University of London who is an expert on cults and cult mentality; Madame Angeline Love, the cult leader, who insists that Baal is only a self- help group; Spender Arlen, Love's assistant and much-younger love interest; Susan Evelyn, Rosalinda's daughter, who provides valuable information to Mick about her mother. Finally, Prunella Hamley, who was brutalized by Baal when she attempted to leave the cult. It is Pru who fingers Love and Arlen, bringing them to justice.
