Scarred by years on the job and a string of bad personal choices, gritty detective Karen Cappelletti spends her days cleaning up other people's messes...

Scarred by years on the job and a string of bad personal choices, gritty detective Karen Cappelletti spends her days cleaning up other people's messes in a small town just outside of Philadelphia. But the mess that's heading her way is personal--and very complicated.

Ten years ago, Karen arrested a man for a vicious assault. Now he's out on parole. A week later, his daughter Tam--sharp-tongued, magnetic, and dangerously interested in Karen--reports a corpse on her driveway. And then there's Ali, a compassionate artist with stunning blue eyes who stirs feelings Karen has spent a lifetime denying.

The clock is ticking. With the town spooked, a body on the ground, and both Tam and Ali tangled in Karen's thoughts, the detective must navigate a case with too many questions and not enough answers.

Someone's playing a long game. And if Karen can't outsmart them, she won't just lose the case--she could lose everything, including the love she never saw coming.