Pomp, circumstance, and murder mark the graduation ceremony at Marcus Rome State University. Famed philanthropist and commencement speaker, Douglas Norwood, lies dead. There is no apparent motive. A cryptic message to a local television station provides many questions but few answers. Sergeant Tom Warren and the campus police are faced with the grim task of untangling the mess.

University President Norman Mulholland wants a solution fast, and appoints mathematics professor Jim Albright to serve as liaison between him and the police. In an unconventional move, Warren and Albright enlist...

Emily Winston lies dead in the woods, just a few feet from the trail on which shed been training for her next marathon. Hardly able to believe it themselves, investigating detectives Renaldo Hernandez and Kaitlin Richardson discover information that indicates a sick individual, with a hatred of Emilys sport, could be the culprit, a hypothesis strengthened by additional chaos affecting the running community. But dark elements arise unrelated to running, and no single theory seems to satisfactorily explain all the facts. Not least among the confusing evidence are obscure geometrical messages...