It is early January, 1929. This is the twenty-second Cyrus Skeen detective novel. It covers the time after Skeen has married Dilys Jones, his intrepid and lovely secretary, and after he has formed close friendships with Mickey Kane, Lieutenant Raggio, and Lieutenant Donovan. Sergeant Hieronymus, his ally in Beginnings, will be making a parting appearance. Linda Bolding, Lucy Wentz, and Clara Reyes, who figure largely over the next twenty cases, have yet to appear as his secretaries. Dilys is settling into her new life with Cyrus. While he has afforded her every comfort, luxury, and advantage imaginable, she still regards herself now as his slave, as his concubine, and she does not mind it in the least. In Reciprocity, Skeen investigates the kidnapping of the wife and teenage son of Keith Plouffe, a wealthy manufacturer with homes in Pacific Heights and the coastal town of Pacifica. But Skeen senses there is something wrong about the crime, and the deeper he digs into it, his life becomes imperiled. Skeen wonders now if the kidnapping was a real crime.