A literary novel - In 1920's Paris, France, a talented, self-destructive artist witnesses the crime-of-passion killing of a woman by her female lover and becomes involved with the murderess. Matters are complicated when it is discovered that the murdered woman was the wife of a British lord and it becomes politically incumbent on the police to resolve the case.This is a character-driven novel about a self-absorbed artist who accepts his erotic trysts and seductions as casual distractions and inspiration for his paintings. His reckless life style creates jealousies among his coterie of friends and rivals and adds another texture to the story when he becomes emotionally entwined with the murderess he takes for a model.