Susan Callisto is pushing 30 and taking stock. The man in her life, Massachusetts police lieutenant Michael Benedict, has unaccountably left her without a word of goodbye. Her consulting firm caters to entry level candidates, and while business is good, money is short. Late in the season, political novice Charles Renfrow begs Susan to help him run for mayor of Telford. But Renfrow is a scientist, not a politician, and his pockets are far too deep. Susan is tempted—Renfrow knows how to seduce—but her suspicions, if not her libido, are aroused. When a friend insists Renfrow’s biotech company is dumping deadly toxic waste, Susan decides to find out the truth before committing herself. Instead of truth, she finds a corpse, Renfrow’s gorgeous assistant Torie Moran. The murder weapon is a microtome blade, razor sharp and accessible to anyone at Renfrow’s lab. After Torie’s murder, violence shadows Susan and people close to her. She is attacked in her driveway. An elderly client is beaten and left for dead. The young daughter of a candidate is abducted on her way to play camp. All sticky strands of a web with her name on it, Susan fears. Then Renfrow himself turns up dead. Was he was the spider, the liar, the pitiless master of cause and effect? The murders bring Michael Benedict back into Susan’s life, and when another of her candidates is charged, she elbows her way into Michael’s investigation. Working on parallel tracks, Susan and Michael uncover trails no one else wants to follow.