Artificial Devices

Lee Piper, insurance claims investigator, revisits Meredith Atkins, the claimant of a £5 million policy on her husband's life, payable to her seven years earlier. Stephen Atkins, CEO of a prosthesis manufacturing company, was sighted going down with his yacht whilst fleeing the UK, shortly after the discovery of his murdered mistress. Meredith Atkins, grandaughter of the founder of the company, undergoes a metamorphosis from plain and gauche to elegant and sophisticated, and becomes the major shareholder of the company. Samantha Barton, a brilliant young scientist, sponsored by Meredith, discovers an agedefying formula that propels them into the realm of the super rich. A sudden repercussion, seven years after Stephen's disappearance, reveals a spiral of motives and intrigue. The truth is finally disclosed, though it is not necessarily the whole truth.