Mother of three Dianne Hood is shot to death by a masked gunman. Police initially assume it' s a robbery, but Lt. Joe Kenda uncovers a sordid web of lust and greed, revealing a killer no one ever expected.

Five people are murdered in a cold-blooded robbery at a shopping center, and much of the evidence is lost in a fire. But a fuzzy image from a newly installed surveillance camera leads Kenda on an exhaustive search that ends in a shocking confrontation.