April Kyle, the head of an upscale Boston call-girl operation, requests private investigator Spenser's help in preventing a local kingpin from seizing control of her enterprise.

Ten years after hit man Crow Cromartie escapes with the spoils of a lucrative heist, Massachusetts police officer Jesse Stone is astonished when the fugitive enlists his cooperation with a job gone bad involving a young woman whose father wants her killed.

When fifty-one year old Nathan Smith is found dead with a bullet hole in his head, Nathan's young bride is accused. Even her lawyer thinks she's guilty. Spenser hires on to investigate Mary's alibi. The couple was seen fighting at a cocktail party earlier and the prosecution has a witness who says Mary once tried to hire him to kill Nathan. Spenser's leads go nowhere; no one knows a thing. Then a young woman, recently fired from her position at Smith's...

Struggling with a high-profile case involving the murders of a controversial talk-show host and a young woman, Paradise police chief Jesse Stone becomes increasingly frustrated by the lack of interest on the part of the victims' families.

Called upon by the Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Boston PI Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange--money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable painting remains stolen.