She was found stabbed to death on a quiet, shady street in one of L.A.'s safest neighborhoods. For three months the police have found no clues to the murder of Hope Devane, psychology professor and controversial author of a pop-psych bestseller, an angry indictment of men. Now Detective Milo Sturgis, newly assigned to the case, turns to his psychologist friend, Dr. Alex Delaware, looking for insights into Devane's life. To both men the cold stalking of Hope Devane suggests calculation fueled by hate -- an execution. They discover why as they unlock, one by one, the very private compartments of her life: her marriage, her shadowy work for a Beverly Hills clinic, the Conduct Committee she ran with an iron hand at the University, and her baffling link to another murder victim. But it is when Alex delves into her childhood that he begins to understand the formidable woman she was -- and the ties that entangled her life until the horrifying act of betrayal that ended it.