When a 91-year-old woman in the wealthy town of New Solway becomes suspicious of goings-on in her old home, Larchmont Hall, private investigator V.I. Warshawski is called in.

When Chicago Private Investigator V.I. Warshawski checks out reports of an intruder at derelict Larchmont Hall, she doesn't expect to stumble over a dead man. But the murdered journalist is about to lead V.I. deep into the heart of a dark mystery, involving a terrified young Muslim boy, two of Chicago's most powerful families, and a generation of shameful secrets political and sexual. It seems that somebody is desperate for the past to stay buried. But who? And why? And if attempting to bring the truth to light has already cost at least one man his life ...who's next?