When Laurence Fife was murdered, a few mourned his passing. A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for single-minded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients. Fife was also rumored to be a dedicated, philanderer. Plenty of people in the southern California town of Santa Teresa, had a reason to want him dead. Including, thought the cops, his young, and beautiful wife, Nikki, with motive, access and opportunity. Nikki was their number one suspect the jury thought so too.  Eight years later and out on parole Nikki, Fife hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her late husband. A trail that is eight years old, a trail that reaches out to enfold a bitter, wealthy and foul mouth, old woman, and a young boy, born death, whose memory cannot be trusted. A trail that leads to a lawyer, defensively, loyal to a dead partner and disarmingly attractive to Millhone; to an ex-wife, brave, lucid, lovely, and still angry over Fife’s betrayal of her; to a not so young secretary. with two high salary for two few skills, and too many debts left owing.