A whirlwind of mysteries hit San Francisco as a serial killer, a cat burglar/jewelry thief, and the murder of a well-known movie actor's wife seem to take over the town and grabs the attention of the Women's Murder Club. The book starts in the bedroom of actor Marcus Dowling and his wife. The two have just finished up with a houseparty, and things tie up with a pretty intense argument and some serious making up. Little do they know it, but their untimely return to the bedroom away from their party has trapped a jewelry thief in their closet.

As the burglar is trying to plan an escape, things go terribly. A gun goes off, and Mrs. Dowling turns up dead, but who really did the deed is not really clear. Mr. Dowling seems so torn up.

Lt. Lindsay Boxer is going to have her hands really full when a mother and her young sun turn up shot to death in a parking garage. It turns out that this pair is just the first in a series of mother/child murders that have one thing in a common. The killer leaves a calling card in the form of writing WCF or some variation of the letters near the body with the victim's lipstick.

Everyone is totally horrified by the death of the children and the cold-hearted nature of the murders. The tough thing is that their is little evidence to direct the case other than some weird striations left on the victims by the gun nuzzle and the calling card.

Lindsay is getting more serious with Joe, and Cindy seems to find herself in a budding relationship with Lindsay's partner. Yuki is finally getting a chance to win some cases while she also starts to find love in a most unexpected place. Claire finds herself calling the public to arms so mothers will defend themselves and their children from this madman.

Can our four heroes figure out what is going on before more families are shattered. Can they figure out the bizarre nature of the three cases and how they are intertwined?

I really loved this book. In fact, the series is quickly becoming a lot more enjoyable than Patterson's Cross. As you can see the heroines are given a chance to further develop their private lives will also confronting a complex and brutal set of cases. My only complaint is a single subplot that happens in the Epilog since it pops up and is totally undone in about 10 pages. Other than causing trauma for Lindsay, it seems to serve no other purpose. Whatever the reason, fans of this series will definitely not be disappointed by this installment.