Kerry Gaudet, a young nurse, heads to the City of Angels in search of her missing brother out of concern that something awful has happened to him. Kerry has very few leads, and the city is being terrorised by a serial murderer who picks victims at random. When a young woman is found killed in her hotel room, Ida Young, a recently retired private eye, is forced to assist the police. Ida had never met the victim, but the LAPD is curious as to why her name was discovered at the crime site. Dante Sanfelippo, a crime fixer, has invested his life wealth in buying a winery in Napa Valley, but before leaving town, he must complete one last favour for the mob: track down a bail jumper. Ida?s friend, Louis Armstrong, flies into the city just as her investigations uncover mysterious clues to the killer?s identity. And Dante must tread a dangerous path to pay his dues, a path which will throw him headlong into a terrifying conspiracy and a secret that the conspirators will do anything to protect . . .