When Denver lawyer Adam Larsen agrees to observe a trial at the request of a young--and very attractive--female lawyer whose case is going badly, he has no idea he embarking upon another one of "those" cases, as his paralegal, former Bronco Maurice White, refers to them. Cases that involve murder. Chief Judge Milton Gumauer refuses to admit key evidence presented by the young lawyer, despite her having laid a proper foundation for admission of the materials. And the judge is inexplicably irked by Larsen’s presence in the courtroom. After a verbal confrontation, His Honor orders Larsen to leave the courthouse. As Larsen reaches the exit, a gunshot rings out. Judge Gumauer, alone in his chambers, has been killed—but not before leaving a cryptic message, imploring Larsen to solve a murder. With no information about the victim, the cause of death or even the time or place of the crime, Larsen has no clue where he would even start--and no particular desire to try. But when the judge's clerk is murdered in her home, Larsen's curiosity begins to simmer. And when he learns that the battered briefcase he noticed in the judge's chambers has vanished, Larsen's interest begins to boil. He quickly finds himself drawn into a dangerous world of bribery and corruption, where there is no one he dares to trust. Even his old nemesis, Sergeant Joe Stone, has suddenly been placed on administrative leave. Undaunted, Larsen turns to his trusted staff--and, of course, his favorite private investigator, Jana Deacon--to search for the answers. But even when he thinks he has figured it all out, there are still surprises lurking in the shadows.