US exchange student Hieronymus Beck is Professor Jack Griffen's biggest fan. Why else would he inveigle himself into the English Literature course that Jack is running; or devote so much time to chatting with Jack after hours about the anatomy of crime fiction, the roles of heroes and villains, and his favourite true-crime book of all time, IN COLD BLOOD? But everything changes when Jack Griffen picks up a list of five templates for murder that has been written by Beck. This mild-mannered professor, who has never incurred anything more than a parking fine suddenly finds himself in a deadly race to protect those he loves, as he is plunged into Hiero's crime-writer fantasy and the darkness of his student's heart.