San Francisco P.I. Emma Victor has been entrusted with some important personal papers that once belonged to Howard Blooming, the prominent gay politician assassinated decades earlier. But the papers - which are supposed to be kept sealed for sixty years - may be even more important to someone else. After Emma is physically attacked, another woman is poisoned at the opening of the archive dedicated to Blooming's memory. Now Emma has to unravel a mess of public affairs and private secrets - to bring a killer out into the light of day.