Seventeen women had turned up as "dead bodies found." Fifteen in vacant lots on the Clevealnd East Side. All but two were black females between fourteen and forty-one. More than half were found nude. Twelve had been beaten severely in the face and head. Nearly all had drug problems or arrests, many were active street hookers. Cleveland homicide found no connections, no similarities besides the obvious. Forensics was a dead end in every case. But things were about to change …

Thomas Haftmann, a former cop, a private eye, is on the case--only, for once, he's not alone. Detective Annie Cheng is also assigned to the tasj force hunting down the killer, and like it or not, both are stuck with each other for the duration. It's a raw deal for Haftmann, who likes to wortk alone, but it's even tougher on Det. Cheng. She's never met anyone in law enforcement like Haftmann. Both have their work cut out for them because this killer's hiding in plain sight and the two had better get along before the next body turns up.