The Basque Decoy is a political thriller that delves into the core of human greed, power and deception. Xavier Bentley is a journalist who goes to Spain to cover Holy Week in Southern Spain for a Boston newspaper. His plans become more complicated as he tries to avoid being absorbed into the political upheaval occurring in Spain following the months after the death of Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. A post-Franco Spain leads to a political struggle between both national and regional autonomous parties over the writing of the Constitution. Hiding in plain sight, in the northern part of Spain, the Basque separatist group, ETA, looks to avenge Franco's years of repression and make it clear that they want no part of a unified country. All of this occurs with the backdrop of the newly installed King, Franco's successor, who must force the Conservatives and Socialists to set a timetable to write the first Constitution since the 1930's without allowing the country to tear apart from the seams.