She's a burglar's daughter and a first-rate private investigator. And if the tools of Veronica Ventana's trade include a PhD in lockpicking, thank her parents, the infamous Vintners, who made cat burglary a class act.

It's 3:30 a.m. when Bink Hanover bursts into Ronnie's apartment reeking of liquor and fear. Outside are four Uzi-toting thugs and a femme fatale who have chased him to her door. Before you can say "safe house," Ronnie recruits Blackie Coogan, ex-boxer and over-the-hill PI. Then she's off to find the woman whom Bink calls the "Black Widow," whose previous well-connected lovers have all come into sudden riches—and sudden death. Now Ronnie is bull's-eye in a nasty high-stakes game. From San Francisco's bedrooms to its boardrooms, she's racing to catch a killer before the killer catches her.