Growing up the caretaker of a difficult mother, Mara Solomon always felt compelled to help people.
So when her neighbor needed a ride to the police station, Mara took off from her job as a musicologist at Emory University to drive her. She had no idea that she'd be taking on a murder case.
Her friend, Lynn Adastra has been brutally mangled, her body left to rot in the South River. The only clue to the motive seems to be a piece of music, scrawled by Adastra before her death. The police have no idea what to make of that.
Following several murders, means, motive, and opportunity all point to out-of-work actresses Bootsie Kittredge and Babs Harrison. Their claims of righteousness and lack of guilt seem fabricated, thanks to a cheerfull announcement made to the patrons
Dallas attorney Stan Turner hates criminal law but has a propensity for attracting murder cases anyway. So, it's no big surprise when a simple attorney-ad-litem appointment in family court evolves into a complex murder trial.