Poet Dimitri Gordienski is killed by a sniper at Cascade's Russian Arts Festival. Captain Banks wants the case resolved quickly before the federal government gets involved.

When a dead body falls out of the sky with every bone broken, every organ shattered, and no identification, Ellison and Sandburg know that they are not dealing with an ordinary criminal.

Jim Ellison can't explain how Warren Chapel, a permanent patient at a maximum-security mental institution, has detailed firsthand knowledge of a string of grisly murders occurring around Cascade.

Professor Robert McCain, the Rainier University expert in serial killers, turns up dead and Ellison is forced to re-open a case that dates back to his youth. As a 10-year-old Jim discovered the last known victim of the infamous Country Club Strangler and it's haunted him ever since.