As a harried reporter for the Baltimore Hearald, Daryll Billups exposed a neo-Natzi killer and halted a rash of lethal bombings that terrorized the city.  For his efforts, he was awarded a management position at the paper, a raise, and national fame.  But a devious serial slayer is pulling him back to the streets and directly into harm's way.

The victims are all young, black, and successful; all discovered nude in the bathrub, their faces defiled with Confederate flag stickers.  Everything else is a mystery: the murderer's identity, motives...even the cause of death.  And when the killing spreads beyond Baltimore's limits.  Darryl will need to rely on every investigative trick he knows to track down a maniac.  But Darryl's hunt is attracting unhealthy attention from the worst possible source--and dragging one tough city newsman ever-downward into a spiraling labrynth of tormented emotions, dark revenge, and terrible destruction.