Sue Grafton

When her elderly neighbour, Gus, has an accident, Kinsey Millhone is relieved when his niece organises a nurse for him. Verifying a background check on Solana Rojas doesn't turn up anything suspicious but Kinsey's not convinced, especially when Gus seems to be getting worse under his nurse's tender care.

It is two days before Christmas when Kinsey Millhone receives a bank slip showing a credit for $5000, but Kinsey has not made the deposit. Then comes the phone call and suddenly everything becomes clear. The frame-up is working and she is trapped.

It was a Monday, early in December, when Kinsey Millhone first got involved in the Isabelle Barney murder case. She was out of work. Attorney Lonnie Klingman's usual private investigator has just dropped dead of a heart attack. Kinsey was more than happy to oblige but the trouble started on the very first day of the investigation.

Lorna Kepler was beautiful and wilful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. She has also been found dead in mysterious circumstances and her death pulls Kinsey Millhone into a netherworld of deception, betrayal and unavenged murder.

In July 1953 Violet Sullivan, a local good-time girl living in Serena Station, California, drives off in her brand new Chevy, leaving behind her husband and young daughter Daisy. Violet is never seen again. Now, 35 years later, Daisy wants closure.