It all began with Old Glory - not the flag, but the candy bar whose skyrocket success caused a Wall Street storm - with highs, lows, and a killing on the floor of the Cocoa Exchange. Soon John Putnam Thatcher, Sloan Guaranty Trusts's peerless troubleshooter, was called in to calm the corporate crises of the Dreyer Chocolate Company, dodge the media spotlight, and try to discover the answer to a life or death question: Who's mixing a sweet commodities future with the bitter ingredient of cold-blooded murder?