RCMP Sergeant Tim Murphy of the Vancouver Island District Integrated Major Crimes Unit is assigned a very cold homicide case involving a large number of similarly murdered prostitutes. He eventually narrows down the potential suspects to three, including a petty criminal with a history of violence against women, a member of a touring golf foursome and a shady Vancouver businessman. After Tim accidently kills his prime suspect, the petty criminal, he learns the man could not have murdered the prostitutes.
Matters become complicated when police informant Bernie McCallum reveals to Sergeant Murphy that the Vancouver businessman, Mike Ferris, has been illegally importing prostitutes through a well-organized crime gang, also heavily involved in smuggling illegal drugs. After a series of police raids are mounted against the gang, Tim learns that Ferris has been confining some of his prostitutes in his hotels against their will. When he investigates he learns that six of the prostitutes have disappeared. A tip takes him to a resort hotel in Placid Cove, an isolated coastal community. There he uncovers a horrific set of crimes, the likes of which neither he, nor the reader, could ever have imagined.