A Death in Geneva is a fast-paced thriller set against the background of late-1970s terrorism that crisscrosses Europe, the United States, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic as mysterious assailants terrorize one of America's richest industrialist families. The action begins when Constance Burdette, the newly appointed American ambassador to the European office of the United Nations—and the President's secret lover—is cut down by machine gun fire in a bloody, well-planned strike against her chauffeured limousine in Geneva. The three assassins, continue their attack by stalking the late Ambassador's brother, Thomas Madison Starring, America's leading shipbuilder and owner of an international shipping fleet. As the assassins close in on their prey, the tense plot moves to a final, devastating act of terror.