Carole Ann Gibson knows her way around the law as well as she knows her way around the courtroom. That's made her a partner in her high-priced law firm and one of the hottest criminal defense attorneys in Washington, D.C. But suddenly she realizes that her star is rising too fast for her conscience. Carole Ann went to court with an innocent client - the first time in years when she knew her client was innocent - and, using the same cynical tactics that resulted in some of her greatest victories defending the guilty, nearly lost the case. Suddenly aware that she can no longer live or work as cynically as the job requires, she resigns, setting off a firestorm at the firm. Meanwhile her husband, Alain, a high-powered corporate lawyer, is waging his own battle with his principles. After years of defending corporate criminals, he just can't go on keeping them out of jail any longer, and a disastrous meeting with the most unscrupulous of his clients prompts his resignation. Only a few days later, Alain is lying dead on a D.C. sidewalk. As a devastated Carole Ann searches to find out why her husband was killed, the secrets of his death - and his life - take her from the nation's capital to the blackwater swamps of Louisiana. In these wild places, she discovers that there is more that she didn't know about her life with Alain, his death, and her own history than she ever imagined possible. She is by turns shocked, thrilled, and terrified. And, for what she's learned, someone wants her to pay with her life.

Genre: Mystery