Blue McCarron is a gay social psychologist who lives in the shell of Wren's Gulch Inn, an abandoned motel in the high desert outside San Diego. She has teamed up both personally and professionally with Roxie Bouchie, an African American (and country line-dancing) prison staff psychiatrist-and the case they've taken on is a baffling one. It seems impossible that two healthy female politicians could both have died from a cerebral hemorrhage within mere days of each other, but they have. Now, Blue and Roxie will have to decipher cryptic notes signed by someone called "The Sword of Heaven" and cross paths with a prestigious La Jolla plastic surgeon if they are to find the ever-so-smart and highly unorthodox killer.