As the turbulent Kennedy administration begins, Alexandra Zsofia Bel, a congressional staffer with a suspicious past, investigates the murder of a State Department lawyer despite risks to her own life. Alex has changed her last name to Bell, her hair color to blond, and her life story to middle-class American to get a job in government. She had hoped to keep her personal history a secret in her new life in Washington, but she risks exposure to catch a murderer before J. Edgar Hoover's FBI catches her first. Alex finds the corruption in the nation's capital stinks like the sewage-laden Potomac River. She, along with her little dog Miss Bea, a cynical beagle and Jack Russell mix, follow the scent, and she also has to use new Washington contacts as well as her family's connections to find the killer and reveal a conspiracy. This novel is the first of a planned series featuring Alex Bell that will be set in the volatile decade of the 1960s.