The death of his fiancee has left chess master Arkady Balagan agoraphobic and unwilling to step outside of his hotel. This debilitation, however, doesn't stop him from solving difficult crimes.
Balagan's first case is launched when Danni pleads with him to find a missing boy and, in a race against time, he enlists Sam and Alcina to help.
A daring robbery during a high-stakes poker game forces Hugo to ask Balagan for help, prompting the chess master to create his own complex plot to trap the culprit.
A well-dressed man wakes up on the sidewalk with no shoes, no wallet, and no memory. The only thing in his pocket is a receipt that leads him to the Huxley Hotel. Remembering nothing but how much he loves his wife, the man hires Balagan to find her and to help him rediscover his identity. While uncovering the truth of the amnesiac’s complicated life, Balagan battles with Pippa over the investigation into Rosemary’s murder.
Swallowing his pride, Hugo asks Balagan for help. Walt, Hugo’s police mentor, is retiring, but one unsolved case still haunts him. Twenty years ago, a teen girl disappeared and Walt is convinced her ex-boyfriend, Stephen, killed her. But because the girl’s body was never found, Walt could never charge Stephen. Now with Balagan’s help, Hugo hopes to find the one piece of evidence that will put Stephen behind bars before Walt takes matters into his own hands. Pippa comes to Balagan with some startling news in Rosemary’s case: the police have finally arrested a suspect.
A mysterious doctor tells Balagan that he is responsible for the murder of a woman found in the hotel pool during a Psychiatric Conference, drawing Balagan into a complex and dangerous game.
Enlisted by a terrified family to help solve the inexplicable bombing of their car, Balagan is sidetracked by an unexpected match with a 16-year-old world chess champion.
Smitten by a beautiful Chinese cryptologist, Sam convinces Balagan to try to solve an intricate puzzle involving a vital secret and an attractive, conniving female journalist.
When the imperious heiress of the Huxley Hotel empire descends for an inspection, she coerces Balagan into helping her find her son, who has mysteriously disappeared.
When Balagan’s oldest friend, the larger than life Russian cosmonaut Oleg Olesky, comes to the Huxley, he brings more than the party. About to pilot the first private space tourism rocket ship, Oleg is there with Chase Galactic as they announce their maiden launch. When the head engineer, Randall, falls from the roof of the hotel, Oleg is the prime suspect. With his only alibi being the fact he was with his boss’s wife, which she denies, Oleg pleads for Balagan’s help. Balagan eventually figures out the true motive for Randall’s murder – and the real murderer.
When the hotel safe is robbed during an extravagant Indian wedding celebration, the distraught couple asks Balagan to help recover their stolen gifts- but is it an inside job or the work of professionals?
Balagan is forced to match his chess skills against a computer when his anonymous online opponent reveals that he is playing for lethally high stakes - the lives of a group of innocent hostages.
A rock star rock star hires Balagan to find $200,000 stolen from him - a mystery that also involves colourful groupies, a missing polar bear, and the kidnapped grandmother of Danni's estranged husband.
After Balagan investigates the sudden death of a hotel security guard, he is forced to face his worst nightmare.
