Amerasian Connecticut PI Rick Van Lam is troubled when his close friend, Hank Nguyen, a Connecticut State Trooper, is suddenly jilted by his fianc e, Edie Michaud. A change of heart, she tells him. Stunned, Hank plagues her as he looks for answers, though he is warned against stalking her. Why this abrupt breakup? He can't leave the question unanswered. But then she is strangled to death in her hallway, and Hank is discovered holding her body. Not surprisingly, the cops name him the main suspect.Working with his partner Jimmy Gadowicz, an old Vietnam vet, as well as his ex-wife Liz and his downstairs landlady Gracie, Rick delves into Edie's personal and professional life, especially a troubling incident at work. She worked for a wealthy but mysterious Hartford bigwig, Max Pope, a notorious womanizer recently enmeshed in a messy sexual misconduct scandal, a man also rumored to be involved with large-scale illegal business dealings. Edie was a local a beauty queen, and perhaps that might have had something to do with Pope's unwanted attention. Or maybe it's something deeper-something related to Hank's investigations as a state cop.But then another murder happens, and time is running out for Hank. How can Rick prove his young friend is innocent when all the evidence points to him as a murderer? What awful secret did Edie hold that led to her murder?
