Returning to Seattle after a business trip, retired PI Leo Waterman is shocked to find his girlfriend, Rebecca Duvall, unconscious on the bathroom floor, her house filled with gas. Officials believe it was a suicide attempt in the wake of a humiliating scandal. Under investigation for dereliction of duty, she'd been suspended from her job as medical examiner for King County. Leo knows Rebecca too well - and is determined to prove her innocence and clear her name. Most important, he wants to find out who tried to kill her.

Despite the prosecuting attorney's claims of a solid case, Leo rounds up his ragtag team of miscreants to find the truth. The investigation leads straight to The Highlands. There, behind the locked doors of one of Seattle's most exclusive gated communities, old money can afford to bury older family secrets. But for Leo, unearthing them is going to trap him in a conspiracy that is deadlier, and far more personal, than he feared.