[1] In this installment after a house with a family home blows up and Lindsay rushes in to save whoever may have survived the blast, a group of killers known as August Spies vow to kill every three days.

Lindsay Boxer, with the San Francisco PD, Claire Washburn, the Medical Examiner, Cindy Thomas, a Chronicle reporter who recently broke up with her pastor boyfriend from the previous novel, and Jill Bernhardt an Assistant District Attorney who is revealed to have been a victim of spousal abuse for a while, dive into the case.

Oddly enough this actually leads the remaining three ladies to find a tie-in to a case that Jill's father prosecuted and to a cover-up years old that has launched this terrorist action.

She had previously decided to make a go of a relationship with her FBI liaison Joe Molinari when he is introduced in the middle of the book.

Later she feels very guilty because Jill had just thrown out her abusive bullying husband, and ignored a chance to call her or visit with her because of the date.