The setting is Carmel, California -- a scenic, peaceful tourist haven where James Dewitt is the police force's only detective. His usual caseload is stolen bicycles and an occasional burglary. But things change with frightening speed when a series of apparent suicides, which soon prove to be murders, shocks the community. Dewitt, a former forensic scientist, struggles with the minutest of clues in his quest for the killer, while departmental turf wars and local politics increase the pressures on his investigation. But his steps are dogged by renegade ex-cop Howard Lumbrowski, the man Dewitt blames for his wife's death. How is Lumbrowski connected to the killings? And why does he have information from Dewitt's confidential files? Dewitt finds himself playing a dangerous game, breaking his own rules in his desperate search for answers. And as the case takes another murderous twist, the past comes back to haunt Dewitt. He will have to fight to save his reputation -- and his life.