Anna Spring has opened a private investigation firm with her neighbor Martha Bega. Anna's and Martha's first big case is brought to them by Susan Bradley, one of San Francisco's few billionaires. The daughter of one of "Big Susan's" high society acquaintances, Laura Cunningham, was murdered a few months ago by her lover, Inez Belize, who confessed and is now serving a lifelong prison sentence. Laura's mother hires Anna to find a manuscript that Laura had written anxious to have a memento of her daughter. It doesn't look like a difficult case. But appearances are not what they seem. Anna's journey takes her into the entangled conscience of an innocent convict, back to America's deep south, to the lies and cruelties of a family greedy for wealth, global influence and admiration, and finally into the mind of a most unlikely killer. And all the while she has to fight against invisible hunters, unbelievable conspiracies, and her own desire to just run and hide and lead a peaceful life with the woman of her fantasies.