As a P.I., Tess Monaghan has done some unusual things. But nothing tops this latest request from a very strange man. On January 19th, Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, he wants her to stake out the writer's grave to catch the anonymous visitor who leaves three red roses and brandy in tribute each year. Though no true Baltimorean would unmask Poe's admirer and destroy a cherished tradition, Tess finds herself too curious to resist.

But to Tess's surprise, two "visitors" appear and a struggle soon ensues, leaving one dead as the other vanishes. In a case as macabre as anything conceived by Poe himself, the P.I.-turned-unlikely-eyewitness will delve into the murky depths of the city's most notorious past crimes to find answers...and a black-hearted killer.