Detective Sergeant Gil Mayo has a problem on his hands. Even Lavenstock isn't immune, these days, from the threat of drugs infiltrating what was hitherto a town noted only for nice, ordinary crime. When a member of a well-known and respected family is killed, inquiries take another direction." "As Mayo and his assistant, Abigail Moon, plunge into the investigation of this murder, and more and more of the unsavory details of the victim's private life are revealed, it seems impossible that the man's death would have any connection with the criminals Mayo is after. However, it becomes clear that the murder victim did have some shady business associates. To complicate the matter there are also many suspects with a personal motive: the woman he was having an affair with, the family of social dropouts living in the condemned house by the river, and even his own family.