Marcus Lear is a former detective sergeant with the Columbus, Ohio, police force. One terrible night a gunfight with a 16-year-old burglary suspect left the boy a paraplegic and Marcus with debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. Marcus resigned from the police force and returned home to Perrys Island. Determined to rebuild his career, he plans to set up a company to develop software that will help law enforcement agencies solve complex criminal cases. In the middle of all this, Marcus learns that the boy he shot, and his mother, are losing their home. Can he help them while successfully battling his own demons?

When Marcus is hired by an insurance company to locate a fabulous collection of rare and valuable rubies, he looks forward to what should be an easy investigation, with no dead bodies to get in the way. However, he quickly learns that people connected to the rubies are being murdered, and a strange message is left written on each victim’s clothing in their own blood!

Marcus asks his lifelong friend, Jenny Gibbons, to help in finding the rubies. But Jenny already has two jobs as both an Ohio wildlife officer and a bodybuilder with her eye set on professional competition. Jenny wonders what working so closely with Marcus would mean for their relationship, her career, and her competitive aspirations? Despite her misgivings, she finds this mystery irresistible and agrees to help. The ruby collection belonged to Robert Ellington III, patriarch of the wealthy Ellington family, who died leaving no one knowing where the rubies were hidden. Marcus and Jenny investigate each member of the Ellington family, including the brilliant and hauntingly beautiful granddaughter, Tiffany Ellington.

As they draw nearer to finding the rubies, Marcus and Jenny learn of a hidden market that caters to the super-rich and deals in ultra-high-end gemstones. One of the gem brokers in this secretive market has been murdered, and the pair discover that he was looking for a buyer for several very valuable stones. Marcus acts the part of a potential buyer for the stones in hopes of luring the thief out of the shadows. But when Marcus sets a trap for the killer, he discovers that the trap has backfired and put Jenny’s life in terrible danger!