Phillip Margolin is a criminal defence attorney who has defended several people accused of murder.

It seems a serial killer is at large and the modus operandi points to the murderer being a medic. Vincent Cardoni, a brilliant but unpopular surgeon, is suspected and certain pieces of evidence found in his apartment make the police believe they have a solid case. But the trial collapses when an officer lies on oath and Cardoni disappears, having firmly stated his belief that he was set up by his estranged wife, Justine, who is also a surgeon.

A few years later another death occurs, the body being found in exactly the same circumstances as the previous victims, but this time Justine is under suspicion and when her defence attorney discovers she has been 'widowed' twice before in suspicious circumstances her proclaimed innocence begins to look very shaky - until other killings are revealed, killings when both she and her ex-husband were known to be elsewhere. So who is the murderer?