A client named Ruthie--who seems to know Tess's father a little too well--asks the newspaperwoman-turned-p.i. to investigate a year-old "Jane Doe" murder and its grim aftermath. Ruthie's low-life brother, Henry, confessed to killing a teenager runaway over a bottle of glue--and, a month into his prison term, he met the same fate as his victim. Following a precious few tantalizing clues, Tess sets off on a path that is leading her from Baltimore's...

When the production of a Hollywood film in Baltimore brings mayhem and murder to the area, private investigator Tess Monaghan finds her job complicated by the acting skills of her numerous suspects.