Ray Coleman returns to his dead aunt's house on Arabella Street in New Orleans, hoping to overcome a case of writer's block. He gets an idea for an article while riding on a St. Charles Avenue streetcar. He ends up without an article and dead in his swimming pool. Lt. PJ Ryan, homicide detective and ex military cop, quickly determines Coleman's death wasn't accidental. He was murdered by someone looking for information. Ryan is left with two questions. What did the murderer want and what was worth killing for? Several days later, a friend of Coleman is found dead in his pool in the French Quarter. Another murder by someone looking for information. The murders are obviously connected, but the reasons for the killings are a mystery. Will this be the end of the killing or will there be more? Looking for a motive, Ryan sets out to unravel Coleman's life since his return to New Orleans. This leads him to suspicious lawsuits filed by "personal injury lawyers" against the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority. While he feels they are connected with the deaths, he has no proof and is stymied until he receives from a crime reporter for The Times-Picayune what turns out to be a message from the grave. Against considerable obstacles, he doggedly pursues a course of action that exposes the lawsuits for what they are and the people responsible for the deaths of Coleman and his friend. Along the way he has an unexpected relationship with a beautiful black assistant district attorney that alters his life.