After having successfully completed the requirements for her Masters Degree in Criminology, Orlando Police Officer Valerie Foreman takes and passes the detective's exam. Her hopes of a promotion look grim, however, when she learns that the Chief doesn't care much for women detectives. With the help of a few of her friends, she manages to get the promotion, but is on thin ice. The Chief is looking for a reason to bust her back to patrol and has enlisted the aid of her supervising detective to speed things along. She is assigned case after case in an attempt to overload her, but Valerie rises to the occasion, solving them all and earning the respect of her peers in the process.
This novel, set in 2002, is a sequel to the novel Traffic. It is the seventh in the series that begins with Day 183.