Kathleen Mallory, O'Connell's perennial heroine, returns in this thriller which opens as the jurors in a prominent trial are murdered, one by one. Technically Mallory is not supposed to interfere in a federal case, but she has always been an unorthodox detective--and there are things about this case that come very close to her own life. As she gets more deeply involved, she draws on her street-smart background--but also puts her own life in greater and greater danger.