Following THE RIGHT WRONG THING, consulting cop psychologist Dot Meyerhoff returns in a disturbing premise. Police Chief Pence, in the tony San Francisco suburb of Kenilworth, doesn’t like Dot’s “new-age psycho-babble B.S.” He appoints eager but unqualified Officer Manuel Ochoa to the newly formed Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which has computers older than the young officer. What’s this thing called a floppy disk he uses to back up files?

"The treasures discovered in this third Dot Meyerhoff installment are the difficulties law enforcement officers encounter and how Dr. Dot specializes in 'detection of deception,' by interpreting facial expressions."

Contemporaneously, artist JoAnn Juliette (“JJ”) specializes in photography and teaches a class that includes Dot’s fiancé, Frank. JJ lives in a commune, a throwback to the Flower Power generation of the ’60s. JJ thinks candid photos of nude children --- including daughter Chrissy, age two --- to be art. Chief Pence believes it’s porn enticing pedophiles. Chrissy goes missing, and Officer Ochoa (who doesn’t have the “emotional Kevlar he needs to investigate these horrendous crimes”) is convinced that he can find the perp by spending 20-hour days viewing disturbing videos. He doesn’t realize the effect that “crimes against children have on an officer’s psyche” and ruins his marriage in the process.

JJ asks Frank to help find Chrissy, refusing to believe that anyone could harm her daughter. Dot is torn between loyalty to the Department and love for her future husband. She learns details from Chrissy’s father, a wealthy entrepreneur who never married JJ but is with matronly Kathryn. JJ is a Buddhist and cannot harbor hate, even for Chrissy’s abductor. She adheres to Buddha’s Fifth Reflection: “Whatever actions I do, good or evil, of these I shall become heir.”

Ochoa opens a Pandora’s Box of suspects, and all the evil spirits fly out. Even JJ, who refuses to display anger, becomes a suspect --- along with Chrissy’s dad, the au pair, and everyone in the commune. And as when all the evil in Pandora’s Box had fled, and the guilty party is revealed, only hope remains.

The intriguing premise sputters when the dénouement reveals the perpetrators. The treasures discovered in this third Dot Meyerhoff installment are the difficulties law enforcement officers encounter and how Dr. Dot specializes in “detection of deception,” by interpreting facial expressions. Readers are reminded: “Psychology isn’t about morality or good and evil. It’s about understanding behavior.”