Suranne Roberts, recently retired civil servant, suddenly dies in mysterious circumstances or so her niece, Sue Anderson, believes when she looks into the circumstances. With no children of her own, Suranne leaves her entire estate to Sue. But Sue inherits far more than her aunt’s assets: she inherits The List. Little realizing what she’s getting into, she sets out on a quest to learn what it means and what her aunt was involved in. The mystery of it is quickly solved, but as she works her way through the pseudonymous characters on The List, it very soon becomes clear that someone will stop at nothing to prevent her reaching the end of it. And when she’s down to the last three names she realizes that one of them is prepared to kill her by any means possible in order to avoid identification and exposure.