At the Blue Dahlia, the forties-style music club where homicide lieutenant Carmen Molina moonlights as a torch singer, life is becomming considerably less easygoing. An unidentified woman is found dead in the parking lot, with the words "she left" spray painted nearby. Soon, another victim is found dead in a church parking lot. Is a serial killer at work in Molina's backyard? And will Molina have to call in the dreaded amateur sleuth Temple Barr to help crack the case? Meanwhile, Midnight Louie, Temple's jet-black feline with a nose for the notorious, get entangled in a reluctant sleuthing partnership with his disapproving daughter, Midnight Louise.

Will Louie and the feisty Louise be able to crack their case? Does Molina really need Temple's help. or does she have more devious plans in mind? And will Louie and Temple be able to accept their imperfect partners before they meet with a far more agonizing end?