In Maureen Howard's renowned masterpiece, a society vamp kills a soldier, and the murder is investigated by swaggering detective Billy Bray. The mysterious circumstances which surround this murder and the investigation that ensued reveal an undertow of sex and moral confusion that has a profound effect on the detective's family. "[A] synergy of ... meditative social vision and storytelling immediacy, of ... highly developed technical skill and of [an] alert heart." New York Times Book Review (front page)