The walls are covered in blood.

Playboy Oliver Mercer has been brutally slain in his posh home in the Pasadena hills, joined in death by his long-legged trophy girlfriend—both not just killed, but dismembered and displayed in a twisted, gruesome tableau. The only evidence left at this helter skelter massacre: a size-eleven high-heeled shoe print and a long strand of hair from a blonde wig.

The gory horror of the Mercer manse reawakens terrible memories for homicide detective Nan Vining, who survived her own harrowing knife attack a year earlier. Still feeling her ruthless assailant’s hot breath on her neck, Nan breaks her own rules and secretly tracks the taunting, murderous gameplayer her daughter Emily dubbed T.B. Mann—the Bad Man.

Putting it all on the line, she risks both her badge and her heart. For working the case alongside single mom Nan is appealing ex-flame Jim Kissick. With conflicted feelings for him, Nan struggles to stay focused on the Mercer case, with all its potential suspects.

The male victim’s business partner was Mark Scoville, a billboard tycoon with a destructive gambling problem. Scoville’s wife is the ambitious bombshell of morning television’s “Hello L.A,” famous for her gorgeous tears and triumph over substance abuse. And circling the periphery on his Harley is Bowie Crowley, the Zen-ful ex-con whose debut novel transformed him from tattooed outcast to literary toast of the town.