A hurricane hinders a kidnapping and Spenser goes on a search for the man responsible - the infamous Gray Man, who has both helped and hunted Spenser in the past. Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected - and she needs Spenser's help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego. The reason? To attend her daughter's wedding as a sort of stand-in husband and protector. Spenser consents, but only after it is established that his beloved Susan Silverman will also be in attendance.
Lauren Heller and her husband Roger, a brilliant executive at a major corporation, are attacked in a Georgetown parking lot after an evening out.†Knocked unconscious by the assailants, when Lauren comes to, her husband has vanished without a trace. When no one else, official or unofficial, will take her seriously and help, Lauren calls the only person left who might: her husbandis estranged brother, Nick Heller, a high-powered investigator with a corporate intelligence firm in Washington, D.C.
Dylan is new to Fredericksburg, starting life fresh, away from his alcoholic mom and his lawless youth in Baltimore. He's done a little jail time, but is now an artist with a pottery shop. Penelope, a real society girl, is divorced and half-heartedly considering a reunion with her Ivy League lawyer ex-husband, since her hopes for motherhood dim every day and that's the irreconcilable issue that split them up.
Riley Angelica is moving forward with her life, so she's made herself a promise: no romantic entanglements with police officers. Thanks to her late husband, she and her twins have been down that road before. So what does she do with Scott Emerson? She's known her husband's partner for years. But never like this. He's at her house, in her kitchen, with her kids…with her. In fact, it seems her self-appointed guardian is a part of her daily existence. She's starting to see him in a new light a very appealing, good-looking light.
