The suspected murder of a long-missing woman, the death of an elderly mentor, and the suicide of Key West's popular mayor are revealed in a single April day. Alex Rutledge, a freelance photographer with part-time forensic ties to the Monroe County Sheriff's Department and the Key West Police Department, must accompany fishing guide and friend Sam Wheeler to identify a body in Broward County. Hours later, after Alex is back on the island, a Key West detective coerces him into documenting Mayor Gomez's demise. Alex also learns he must administrate the estate of Naomi Douglas, the woman who encouraged his creative photography.

Alex soon suspects that nothing is as it appears. The police choose not to see crimes. Only Rutledge senses foul play on the island, a link between the deaths, and the threat of more peril.

Home-front troubles compound the dilemma. Teresa Barga, Alex's new housemate, is absorbed by the arrival in town of Whitney Randolph, a college friend with cash, wild stories, bent morals, and more alibis than an octopus has suckers. Randolph, it apears, has already slithered into the unfolding suspense, linking himself to scam victims and murder victims.

Alex must ignore a relationship gone sour, then focus on wisps of clues to connect the past and present. Friends act out of character, officials become duplicitous, and threats of violence take Alex to the most dangerous confrontation of his life.