Russell Arbuthnot isn't just a ham, he's the whole pig. Detective Nick Forte figures-along with everyone else-the bodyguard assignment he's picked up is a publicity stunt for Arbuthnot's one-man show, to perk up flagging ticket sales. When the actor turns up dead after all, Forte is faced with the kind of publicity he can do without and decides, when a bodyguard's client is killed, he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what he thought of him. He was your client and you're supposed to do something about it.