In California, a police officer is abducted by two men for publicity purposes. The pair want police to reopen the case of their murdered father, claiming a policeman was a party to the killing. Newspaper reporter Irene Kelly, the wife of the abducted policeman, tries to obtain his release.

Sweeping across decades, a cold case that is far from closed while introducing an intrepid novice reporter, Irene Kelly, learning the ropes from her mentor, Conn O'Connor. From the late fifties, when a bloodstained car is buried on a farm and a wealthy family disappears at sea . . . to the seventies, when Irene makes shocking connections and brashly tracks a killer from the past . . . to today, when new threats and deadly surprises are closing in...

Winner of the Edgar, Macavity and Agatha Awards, Jan Burke is one of America's most admired mystery writers. In this intense sequel to the best-seller Goodnight, Irene, as the race for District Attorney heats up the mudslinging begins, and soon one candidate's son is branded a satanist. He claims innocence, but chilling events soon point intrepid news reporter Irene toward a greater conspiracy.