A case of stolen shoes leads maverick Chicago PI Sam Kelson into something far darker and deeper in the second of this hardhitting crime noir series.

“My boyfriend’s been stealing my Jimmy Choos.” Genevieve Bower has hired private investigator Sam Kelson to recover her stolen shoes from her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. The problem is that no one’s seen Genevieve’s boyfriend for the past two weeks.

Events take a disturbing twist when, in his search for the shoes, Kelson comes across a body, shot in the head. A clear-cut case of suicide – or is it? Has Kelson’s client been wholly honest with him? What is this case really about?

At the same time, an explosion rips through one of the city’s public libraries, leaving a friend’s nephew critically injured. Could there be a connection? If there is, Kelson’s determined to find it. But Kelson’s not like other investigators. Taking a bullet in the brain during his former career as a Chicago cop, he suffers from disinhibition: he cannot keep silent or tell lies when questioned – and his involuntary outspokenness is about to lead him into dangerous waters . . .