When NYPD Detective Bill Donovan spends a night in a crow observatory with and ornithologist friend -- he wakes up to murder most foul, and a crime that will lead him from the grassy knolls of Central Park to the darkest recesses of the human heart.

It appears the victim, Harvey Cozzens, had been doing a little observing himself, namely the mating rituals of a couple of teenagers, both of whom are now prime suspects. The boy, ironically, is the son of Donovan's scientist friend. The girl, a "body poet" with her own cybernudity Web site, was being stalked by the victim.

But the list of suspects grows as Donovan digs deep into the world he knows best: the underbelly of a city where rage, jealousy and secrets are the motivations for murder.

Genre: Mystery