The news that a killer is lurking somewhere nearby can shake any community, large or small. But when this killer is one of the people you know well... the one to whom you trusted the education of your sons and daughters, the one whose smiling face was seen in all the bookstores of the town, the one whose success you were proud of and whom you quietly envied... Why did Thomas Houston kill his own children and a beautiful wife? What compelled him to do this? The investigation is led by experienced professional Ryan DeMarco. Can he admit to his colleagues that he has read all of Huston's novels, and their first editions, autographed by the author, stand in a neat row in his closet? Should he tell them about his three lunches with Thomas Houston? About the growing sympathy and admiration that DeMarco felt for this man, and about the hope that he had finally - for the first time in many years - found a true friend in him?