B loodline was Sheldon's fourth blockbuster novel, and he continued to present the same types of characters which made its predecessors successful. A beautiful heiress, Elizabeth Roffe, is typical of the glamorous and highly intelligent women familiar to his readers. She is modeled on Christina Onassis, and like Miss Onassis, she finds herself the heir to business concerns worth billions after her father's death. Her new position also means that she has become a target for the same killer who murdered her father.

Elizabeth is paired with Rhys Williams, a dark and handsome Welshman from a family of coal miners. From his obscure beginnings, he has risen by his intelligence and force of personality to become chief assistant to the late Sam Roffe, who died just before the novel begins. Rhys, although he is the best man for the position, cannot become president because the top executives must...