Someone is torturing and killing high-stakes players in the horse-racing world; all signs point to an animal activist gone rogue. But San Diego CSI Holly Jennings knows better. She's seen enough violence in her time to know the difference between a killer bent on revenge and a killer seeking sheer destruction.

To stop him, Holly must venture beyond the gleaming facade of jockey silks and Derby hats into the seedy underbelly of the racing world, where ambition and greed trump ethics and fair play, and people will do anything―even kill―to win. But just when she thinks the killer is within her reach, a ghost from the past returns to threaten it all: her case, her job...and her life.