"The night that John Stefanovitch was shot couldn't have been colder, or the stars more dazzling in high winter skies." Prologue, Chap. 1, p. 3

"They made tender, then passionate, love in the still, blue-green water of the swimming pool. In the middle of the coldest March in years.
"At that moment, John Stefanovitch was sure he had everything he had ever wanted out of life. Getting St.-Germain would be the icing on the cake." Prologue, Chap. 2, p. 7

"Isiah Parker flashed by him as if he were standing still on a relay block. He pistol-butted the drug dealer on the side of his head as he went by. The dealer went down in the gutter in a heap of flashy clothes." Chap. 7, p. 23

"The shock of the brutal murder finally struck Stefanovitch with a physical jolt. Bile rose in his throat. Someone had gotten to the Grave Dancer before...