Real estate agent Kate Doyle knew divorce was messy especially when mixed with business, but she didn't expect it to be bloody. Kate agrees to sell the home of old friends who're locked in bitter wrangling and manages to keep the peace long enough to get signatures on contacts. She congratulates herself on what will be an easy sale in this upscale Colorado college town. However, Kate's celebration turns to horror when she walks into the lawyer- client's study to find him brutally murdered—stabbed in the throat.

"A crime of passion," say Kate's police detective brother- in-law. The prime suspect is Kate's close friend, the spurned wife, who begs Kate to help her.

Kate's meddling turns up some surprising suspects. The successful lawyer deceived numerous ex-lovers as well as his wife. He'd also played off one land developer against another, dangling a choice tract of land as bait. Businesses were ruined and fortunes lost. Had the loser taken revenge on the wily lawyer? Or had an ex-lover killed in jealous rage?

Kate's real estate license helps her dig into the clever lawyer's dealings as she sifts clues from cyber space to crawl space. Unfortunately, her snooping tempts the killer to exercise his own license—to kill.