By dawn's early light ... murder, mystery, and intrigue.When the Star-Spangled Banner flag is stolen from the Smithsonian Institution, it's up to historian Franklin Scott Keane to get it back.Joining forces with Keane will be an up-and-coming young researcher. Together, they navigate a web of murder and intrigue surrounding the famous flag's disappearance. Looking for clues, Keane follows the flag's path from the Battle of Baltimore to the halls of the Smithsonian to a rich and powerful madman's compound deep in the marshes of Maryland's Eastern Shore.For Keane, more than the flag is at stake. Since his wife's death in a sailing accident, Keane has struggled to rebuild his personal and professional life. Finding the flag becomes his path to redemption.To do so, he will test his knowledge of history and his skills as a researcher to the limit. He will need to come to terms with his personal loss. He will encounter a disturbing historical twist as old as the flag itself. And ultimately, he will have to survive a final showdown in the nightmarish tidal marshes of Chesapeake Bay to determine both his own fate and that of the Star-Spangled Banner.