Jack Hunter's fortunes have taken a turn for the better in Los Angeles. But trouble soon finds him when he returns to Key West. An old friend has been hospitalized from a brutal beating that may have to do with the unsolved murder of his son. Jack teams up with a private investigator to look into the case. And is quickly caught in a tangled web spun by twisted characters. He risks becoming a victim himself. LAPD Detective Laura Dalton, battling demons of her own in Los Angeles, comes to Key West on vacation and winds up joining Jack, an old nemesis, in the hunt for the killer. The path leads them to a small-time hood from Miami who has opened shop in Key West. Politics and corruption follow hand-in-hand along the way and things get deadly in short order. While Key West, beguiling as ever and always a loose knot that can slip in a minute, throws in a few stunning surprises of its own.