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.

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?