Jessica Thompson is training for a marathon, running fifty miles a week not just to stay in shape, but to help her forget that she spends her days in service to some of California’s worst criminals. As a public defender in Los Angeles, this is par for the course. But Roberto Salazar is an unusual client: a kind, mild-mannered man with a clean record who has been accused of trafficking stolen goods. Jessica is happy to get this churchgoing gardener acquitted, but she’s shocked when he’s accused of murder.

Roberto is arrested in connection with three savage murders, each committed on the night of a full moon. Is he innocent? Or did Jessica let a madman go free?