Former government assassin Cameron Winter thinks he's finally found peace--and love--with therapist Gwendolyn Lord. But when she tells him about a baffling "locked room" murder in Tulsa, Winter's instincts pull him back into the shadows. The deeper he investigates, the more dangerous the case becomes--linking two impossible murders, a ruthless billionaire, and a ghost from his past. As his old life collides with his new one, Winter must decide how far he's willing to go to protect the woman he loves.

Ten short stories. Miss Mott is a newspaper columnist, offering advice to readers on various personal matters. Is she now to become a consultant on crime? Of course, her uncle does work at Scotland Yard...In the ten cases, Lucie Mott solves only two-inding a missing woman locked in her own house and recognizing that an apparently philandering husband was actually out thieving--and in a third helps rescue her uncle. In five stories she is saved from her own folly by a supposed criminal known as Violet Joe with whom she immediately falls in love. Three strains of action are interwoven throughout the volume: the romance of Lucie and Violet Joe, the maniacal attraction of the criminal gang leader Meredith for Lucie, and Miss Mott's investigative career. All are neatly tied up in the final case.