In his first case with the homicide unit, rookie burglary detective Joe Kenda volunteers to work a bloody multi-victim shooting deemed "unsolvable" by the veterans. But has the ambitious young investigator bitten off more than he can chew?

When a pilot is found dead in her trailer, police are stumped; until Lt Joe Kenda finds a startling connection between the victim and her killer. Then, Kenda is called to a bloody shooting, only to discover that the murder victim is an old family friend.

When a squabble at a store turns violent, Raymond Archuleta steps in to help- only to be stabbed through the heart. Lt Joe Kenda must solve the case with little evidence besides a bloody bouquet, and a sketch of the mystery woman last seen holding them.

A father is shot in the head just steps from a strip club. When Lt Joe Kenda traces the victim's last hours, the field of potential suspects grows, but no one will talk. The case is halted until Kenda uncovers a conspiracy organized by an unlikely gunman.