After a confrontation with a group of smugglers on the border leaves him nearly dead, Agent Brinker turns in his INS badge and starts up a safer line of work as a private investigator. And now that he's aced a few open-and-shut missing child cases, Brinker thinks he has finally escaped the nightmare of Lovers Crossing. But when Brinker is approached by the wealthy Tucson businessman Mo Crain to investigate the brutal murder of his wife, trouble is close behind. Desperately short on leads, Brinker can't find anyone in Tucson with a motive to kill Mrs. Crain. And then an acquaintance of hers is found dead in the trunk of his car, showing Brinker that he's up against a cold-blooded murderer who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. As Brinker travels from border to border in search of answers, his investigation leads him back to the very place he swore never to return--the underbelly of Lovers Crossing. And this time, he may not get out alive. In the tradition of Michael McGarrity, James C. Mitchell introduces a border detective who is as fully human as he is smart and tough.