Matt Royal, the retired lawyer-turned-beach-bum, is called back into the courtroom to defend his girlfriend J.D. Duncan's Aunt Esther. A bestselling author has been murdered after a book signing, and Aunt Esther has been arrested. Matt reluctantly suits up for the courtroom, and J.D. takes a leave from the police department to go undercover. A bizarre specter from the past haunts their investigation every step of the way. As they delve further into the case, the pieces of the puzzle refuse to fall into any kind of coherent pattern. Jock Algren arrives with his special skill set to expose the real murderer and free Aunt Esther, but to no avail. Not until the case goes to trial and the evidence is revealed does the truth emerge --- and a strange kind of justice prevails.

Jock Algren arrives on Longboat Key in a state of depression and hopelessness. His most recent mission for his secretive U.S. government intelligence agency has been disastrous, and his friends Matt Royal and J. D. Duncan aren’t sure they’ll be able to pull him out of his despair. Duncan is investigating a cold case when the brother of the victim shows up on the island and complicates the investigation. A grizzled sailor brings his boat into a local marina, and bodies begin to accumulate. A Middle East jihadist intent on revenge locks on to Jock’s clandestine past, bringing a deadly chase to the last outpost in the continental U.S. --- Key West.

Matt Royal has agreed to defend his good friend and wife of Longboat Key’s police chief, Abby Lester, who has been charged with the murder of the unlikable and shady Nate Bannister. Matt cannot refuse Abby’s pleas for help, despite having retired from the practice of law several years earlier. Police, politicians, academics, real estate moguls and other powerful forces are tied together in a cauldron of issues that Matt must untangle to get at the truth. Can he rekindle his legal skills and outwit the prosecution pitted against him? Matt knows he must, as the life of his friend hangs in the balance.

The quiet of Longboat Key, Florida, is shattered when an old man is shot to death, and his murderer is killed while fleeing the police. Retired attorney Matt Royal and Detective Jennifer Diane (J.D.) Duncan are pursued by men who would do them harm. As the mystery deepens, a ragtag group of devious and dangerous characters intrudes on the lives of the islanders, creating a kind of havoc unusual for a sun-splashed island full of retirees and beach bums.