California PI Kinsey Millhone investigates the death of Audrey Vance, a woman she helped arrest for shoplifting, and antagonizes just about everyone, including Audrey's fiancé, several loan sharks, a stone-cold killer, and a hapless burglar who knows more than is healthy for him.

Since former Marine helicopter pilot Jack Morgan started Private, it has become one of the world's most powerful investigation firms, sought out by the rich and famous to discretely handle their most sensitive problems. Private's investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the world, and they always uncover the truth. When a former lover is found murdered in Jack's bed, he is instantly the number one suspect....