One morning New Orleans homicide detective PJ Ryan picks up The Times- Picayune and is surprised to see on the front page a picture of what appears to be a murder being committed. He's even more surprised and perplexed when he realizes the picture shows it was taken at the time of an actual murder he investigated and correctly portrays the victim and his murderer who confessed to the killing several days before. He's baffled how the picture was made since the identity of the killer hasn't been made public. The only logical explanation is that someone at the station gave confidential information to someone who created a fake murder picture. Shortly after that, the paper receives pictures of two other murders with details about times, places, victims, methods and killers known only to the police. Ryan tracks down the murder picture taker who readily admits what he did. He claims he took the pictures acting alone with an odd camera that can take pictures of past murders. Ryan dismisses him as a loon and is surprised when he's tried for conspiracy to committing the murders, the State claiming the pictures were real, the photographer was at the scenes of the murders and was complicit in them. The trial on the charges takes a bizarre turn, leaving the reader to decide whether the photographer's tale about the murder camera is for real. When Raymond Chandler, the mystery writer, was asked about a point in one of his books, he was said to have answered with something like: "How would I know? I just wrote the book." What will you decide?