"A reporter, it turns out, for an African-American publication, and as far as the suburban cops seem to feel, a black criminal who stumbled to a drunken death. Furious, the man's family hires V.I. to investigate - and that's when things begin to get complicated." "As she retraces the dead reporter's tracks, V.I. is sucked into the middle of a gothic tale of sex, money and power, the trail leading her back to the McCarthy-era blacklists, and forward to some of the darker aspects of the Patriot Act. As she scrambles desperately for a way to save herself and her clients, V.I. finds herself penned into a smaller and smaller space by an array of people trying to silence her, and before she can untangle the whole sordid truth, not only will two more people lie dead ... but her own life will hang in the balance."--Jacket.