When Timothy Cross, a recent young college graduate and environmental activist working for the government, is found murdered in an alligator pond, Florida private eye Tony Lowell and his friend, police detective Lena Bedrosian, search for a cold-blooded killer.Lowell doesn't hesitate to join the fray, for the victim was the nephew of Ernie Larson, one of Lowell's oldest friends. As Lowell begins investigating, his array of suspects includes a baseball fanatic, a single mother, and her dangerously violent boyfriend. Soon he finds himself pitted against powerful industry types, as well as black advocacy groups concerned about jobs and backwoods racists who resent meddlers. The stakes are raised even further, however, when he discovers that the very safety of Florida's diminishing water supply is at stake. Lowell is determined to find the killer, but he's got to save his own skin while he's at it.