The unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A series of shocking murders has occured, each victim a child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who is less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's a difficult case that just keeps getting harder. Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd colony is Vaughn Adams, arguably the century's greatest woman painter, and a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. But what really happened 18 years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past—even if it means losing everything she holds dear...