Kinsey goes into the dark underbelly of insurance fraud in this volume in the popular series by Sue Grafton. She heads from Santa Teresa to LA in order to investigate the case of a woman named Bibiana Diaz, whom her agency thinks might be making false automotive claims. Little does Kinsey know, but that is just the start of things. She should have had some idea when one of the adjusters at the insurance firm turns up dead just before she gets the assignment, and it was a case he had been working on.

In order to get the scoop, Kinsey takes on the name Hannah Moore and ends up becoming quite friendly with Bibianna after they are both arrested in the death of Chago Maldanado outside of a nightclub. It turns out that Chago is the brother of Raymond Maldanado, who seems to be at the center of all the fraudulant insurance claims. While in prison, she is recruited by the police to go deeper undercover to sort out not just the one case, but in the hopes of bringing down the whole operation.

Raymond and his gang are tied to drugs as well as the insurance fraud, which seems to be feeding into the stereotype of Latino gangland that seems inappropriate in modern times. Poor Kinsey seems to barely be keeping up with what is going on as she is drawn into participating in the fraud schemes while almost being held hostage by her new friend's boyfriend.

Unfortunately, while she is doing all of this, it seems to be without the help of the backup of the police that had signed her up for this. It is this feeling of loneliness and despair that makes the reader (and Kinsey herself) wonder if she is going to be able to get out of this either alive, or even with her moral compass still on track as she finds herself starting to see the point of view of are villains.

I have to admit that it was the first time I haven't really enjoyed a book in this series. The story takes on a much darker tone then most of the other books in the series. None of the characters have much of a redeeming value to them, which makes it hard to feel a whole lot of compassion for most of them. Kinsey is just as strong as usual, but as she is completely out of her element, she seems to have none of her usual support system around her.