The Lincoln Barnes story continues in the second installment of the Lake Superior Mystery Trilogy. Barnes has left the Minneapolis PD and begins a new chapter of her life in Lake County, Minnesota, as Sheriff Sam MacDonald's chief detective. The bizarre murder of a young man on the shores of Lake Superior sets off a series of seemingly unrelated crimes that challenge Barnes and MacDonald and include the kidnapping of a mining executive and the use of deadly chemical weapons. Despite the FBI's involvement, Barnes takes center stage with a lively cast of new characters who will keep the reader guessing and second guessing. And, of course, Barnes is still obsessed with Judge Robin Gildemeister. Is he a murderer, the man of her dreams, or both?

The president of the Minneapolis city council is savagely murdered in a park a few hours before sunrise. Forensic evidence suggests she knew the killer. Detective Lincoln Barnes and her cerebral partner, Warren, lead an investigation that focuses on the charismatic mayor and the victim's chief aide. Barnes' romantic encounter with a judge turns into an obsession after she discovers startling facts about his past. As she and Warren close in on the killer, events occur that make her question her future as a Minneapolis cop and contemplate a new life with a man who's either the answer to her prayers or the personification of evil.

The serenity of an early morning hike near the shores of Lake Superior is horribly disrupted when a young couple discovers the naked, broken body of a woman in a rocky gorge at the bottom of Gooseberry Falls. It turns out the dead woman was a lawyer and the wife of a prominent federal judge twice her age. Her recent lawsuit against the Catholic Church has shaken the Twin Cities' Archdiocese and threatens to destroy everything the Archbishop has done to shield the Church and its assets. Was her death an accident or the first murder in Lake County in more than a decade? Sam MacDonald, the overqualified local sheriff, will need outside help to investigate the unusual circumstances of her demise. A wealthy Twin Cities' investment banker's clandestine relationship with the Archbishop is just one of many deceptions played on the fringes of a decades' old clergy abuse scandal, ultimately leading to a cascade of death, destruction and revenge.