The latest pulse-pounding thriller from Edgar and Barry Award finalist Mike Lawson starring his beloved Washington DC ?troubleshooter? Joe DeMarco.

Carson Newman doesn't think of himself as a gangster. He doesn't have a consigliere or operate out of the back room of a bar. No, Carson's a different sort of gangster, a billionaire Boston real estate developer, who only breaks the law when necessary?and he doesn't usually get his hands dirty.

Joe DeMarco, on the other hand, is paid to get his hands dirty. So, when John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, calls, DeMarco knows it's time to get to work. Brian Lewis, an intern who worked for Mahoney, has been found dead, seemingly from a drug overdose. But Brian didn't seem like a drug user, and even more concerning, he seemed to be on the cusp of releasing a report that identified a group of politicians who had taken bribes.

Brian's mom is convinced that Brian was murdered because of what he'd learned, and it doesn't take long for DeMarco to come to a similar conclusion. A conclusion that points to Carson Newman's empire.

In a city full of shadowy agreements and duplicitous deals, DeMarco will soon learn that to get to the bottom of Brian's death, he'll have to look at people perched the very top of the world.