While observing a trial that is going badly for a young colleague, Adam Larsen realizes that there is something terribly wrong with the judge's one-sided rulings. What's worse, his mere presence in the courtroom has inexplicably infuriated the judge. Ordered from the courtroom, Larsen is on his way out of the courthouse when he hears a shot. The judge, alone in his chambers, is dead.

A cryptic message, entreating Larsen to solve a murder that led to the judge's death, is discovered, but with no other information, Larsen doesn't even know where to start investigating. Nor does he want to. But when the judge's clerk is murdered, Larsen's his curiosity begins to simmer. And when he learns that the battered briefcase he'd seen in the judge's chambers has disappeared, his interest begins to boil.

He quickly finds himself drawn into a dangerous world of bribery and corruption, where there is nobody he dares to trust. Undaunted, Larsen turns to his trusted staff--and, of course, his favorite private investigator, Jana Deacon--to aid his search for the answers.

But when he thinks he has figured it all out, there are still surprises lurking in the shadows.