Thank you for you advice so far. I have reduced the earlier synopsis considerably, there are areas I feel that I could go to take out the odd line, however, I am not sure that I can reduce the synopsis any further without losing the flow of the story.


RING OF CONSCIENCE – BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Author: Glenn Wilson Genre: Mystery Thriller Words: 80,000

Ring of Conscience is an action thriller following two detectives on the trail of a secret legacy held deep within the vaults of Las Vegas while solving the mystery of a suspicious suicide in England.

Professor Jason Chadwick graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and helped develop the World Wide Web’. He was born in Las Vegas, son of the Donald Chadwick, owner and developer of Casino Security Systems. The Chadwick family move to England after Donald’s retirement but Jason’s parents are killed in a car accident within a year of moving. Jason remains in England and works as a college lecturer while helping major Internet companies like Google and Myspace develop their technologies. In the spring of 2007, Jason commits suicide.

Ring of Conscience opens with Jason’s Personal Assistant, Amy Pearce sitting in a café in London’s Regent Street. Amy suspects that a man she recognises from an incident prior to the professor’s death is stalking her. Amy senses danger and attempts to leave the café via a fire exit door downstairs. She is chased and a waiter is killed trying to protect her. Amy escapes and explains to the police that she believes this man may have had something to do with Jason Chadwick’s death.

Jason’s two sons live in Boston, he did not see them throughout their childhood because his ex-wife refused access but they had recently been in touch. Jason does not trust them, as they only appeared to be after his money. An investigation into his son’s gambling debts reveal a link to a mafia-style crime organisation in Las Vegas. Jason’s father had originally helped to bring the family (The Hammond Organisation) down and they all served time for their part in a multi-million dollar fraud of the casinos. Jason had become suspicious so in his will he leaves a mere hundred thousand dollars for his sons. The remainder of his estate, unbeknown to anybody else has been put into a vault, with a complicated code system – a security feature that had been invented by his father.

Though Amy was not left money in Jason’s will, she was left a gold signet ring with a motif, which looked like the letter M in a semi-quaver. Jason referred to it as his ‘Ring of Conscience’, which was his personal talisman.

Meanwhile Jason’s solicitor is missing. He leaves a note and some money for Amy warning her that she is in danger. Inspectors Thomas Riley and Lucy Bridges from Charing Cross police station are put on the case and uncover in Jason’s will a personal letter to his solicitor whereby he asks him to maintain a website called Melodema.com. The web page is blank with the exception of a password box. Inspector Riley eventually uncovers, a steganographic clue to the password, which opens a new web page detailing a treasure hunt – a series of online puzzles, and clues to enable a person to find his legacy. Jason claimed that to know him would be to understand him and the simple things in life that gave him pleasure.

Thomas and Lucy have been working together for nearly two years and the police force frown upon their growing personal relationship so Thomas decides to search for the Professor’s legacy himself, with Lucy’s help.

Ring of Conscience then follows the two Inspector’s attempts to uncover the clues, which, through investigations using the Internet, explore Jason’s passion for Greek mythology, modern myths and architectural mysteries. During their search however, a gunman holds them hostage under orders from a criminal organisation based in Boston. Amy Pearce is tricked into flying to Boston to meet a friend of Jason Chadwick and is held in a manor, believing that she is helping the FBI. The Inspectors are convinced that Amy is in danger and agree to help the organisation uncover Jason’s legacy in return for Amy’s release.

Jason’s Chadwick’s solicitor meanwhile travels to Las Vegas and speaks with the then mayor, who claims that she was blackmailed at the time by the Hammond organisation and gives him details of the family’s release and relocation to Boston. He flies to Boston and tracks down the manor in his own private investigation. He warns Amy that she is still in danger, but as he attempts to leave the property to inform the police in England, he is caught and killed in the ruckus that follows. The family’s weak link, Nathan Hammond is responsible and their perfectly executed plan is thrown into turmoil. Under increasing pressure the inspectors realise that the clues are leading them towards Las Vegas. The Hammond brothers make a deal with the Inspectors to release Amy while they all fly to Las Vegas to solve the remaining clues together in return for a split of Jason’s legacy.

Action moves to Las Vegas and all is well for the first day, then Stock Hammond, the mastermind of the original Hammond fraud is released from Jail just as news starts to break of a body being found off the coast of Boston, believed to be of the missing solicitor from England. The Inspectors realise that this criminal organisation are thugs and not the well-organised professionals that they believed them to be. They attempt to leave Las Vegas but are spotted and the resulting attempt to escape through the streets of Las Vegas is futile. They lose the chase and are in deep trouble as Stock Hammond is becoming increasingly volatile.

Eventually, Lucy Bridges uncovers the last clue in time, she hopes, to save Thomas’s life. They open the vault in the basement of Excalibur Hotel to find that the money – over ninety million dollars, is missing. Amy Pearce and Jason’s friend Emmanuelle had managed to solve the clues together following an earlier tip off from Lucy. Lucy realises what she has done. The Hammond family flee Las Vegas just as the FBI move in but Thomas Riley is shot and desperately fights for his life as the frantic search continues for the Hammond brothers.

In the end the truth is uncovered about Jason’s death, which ties in with his parent’s fatal accident ten years earlier. The Hammond family are responsible and are eventually caught, but the ringmaster, the brains behind the whole project, is still at large – and still wants his money. That provides a final twist after Amy Pearce shares her windfall with Lucy Bridges and her new husband Thomas Riley, who is making a steady recovery following his shooting in Las Vegas. The Melodema Stone, at the base of the external wall to the Vatican City in Rome is where Amy and her new partner Emmanuelle, Jason’s childhood friend, decide to honour him, the initial clue being the Melodema symbol on Jason’s ‘Ring of Conscience’.