Two years after the death of Tim Hess, her partner and father of her child, Merci Rayborn, the Orange County homicide investigator introduced in Parkers "insanely imaginative" (The New York Times Book Review) The Blue Hour, is back. Merci has finally gotten her life together. She and her son are living with her father, a retired cop, and she is dating Mike McNally, a respected fellow officer. When a young prostitute is found murdered and Mike emerges as the primary suspect, Mercy must do the unthinkable--expose and arrest her lover.