The Song of Roland, the national poem of France, is one of the most famous epics of the Middle Ages and has been translated many times from Old French into Modern English. The poem recounts the famous Battle of Roncevaux fought between the rear guard of Charlemagne’s army and the Saracens–a battle which cost the lives of thousands including Charles’s nephew, Roland, and his best friend Oliver. Now a madman suffering from the delusion that he is descended from the great Oliver is loose in New York City, randomly killing innocent people and leaving behind clues to his identity. But those clues prove baffling to Deputy Chief Mag Goldman and his ‘flying squad’ of NYPD homicide detectives. With no idea of how to connect or decipher the clues, once again Mag turns to his best friend, Professor Bradley Davison of Queens College for assistance. Davison had assisted Mag on numerous previous serial killings and was an unofficial adviser to the NYPD. But now, Mag’s crack team is faced with their most dangerous quarry–a lunatic who kills for no apparent reason. It is up to Brad Davison to link the pieces of evidence together if the killer is to be apprehended.