This time out, Sunny finds herself enmeshed in the problematic lives of three troubled women. The first is her sister Elizabeth, a shallow, self-absorbed neurotic who loses her bearings when her husband leaves her for another woman. The second is her old friend Julie, a professional therapist struggling to cope with the painful dissolution of her own moribund marriage. The third is a client named Mary Lou Goddard, a feminist and self-professed lesbian who hires Sunny to protect her from an unidentified stalker. Mary Lou's dilemma, with its multilayered mysteries and attendant dangers, serves as the novel's central dramatic thread.

Sunny quickly identifies the stalker as Lawrence Reeves, a pathetic middle-aged misogynist. Shortly after Sunny's first confrontation with Reeves, Gretchen Crane, Mary Lou's assistant, is murdered, ostensibly because of her slight resemblance to Mary Lou. Shortly after that, Lawrence Reeves commits -- or appears to commit -- suicide, leaving an unambiguous confession behind. Satisfied, the Boston PD closes the file on Gretchen's murder, while Sunny, not at all satisfied, continues to investigate. Her investigation carries her from the bastions of radical feminism to the sleazy underworld of organized prostitution, gradually uncovering a sordid account of twisted relationships, sexual betrayal, and blind, murderous rage.

With consummate skill, Parker moves the complex narrative back and forth across three intersecting story lines. In the process, he takes us deeply into Sunny Randall's life, an austere, disciplined existence built around her love of art, her absolute dedication to her chosen profession, and her unresolved relationship with ex-husband Richie Burke, whose family, ironically, is a major force in the Irish-dominated Boston mob.