Jackson Burke—recluse and ex-con—is drawn out of his hermit-like existence to help a friend and former lover, Kacey Butler. Butler, an investigative reporter for a San Diego newspaper, is being threatened by a serial killer—but not just any serial killer. She believes him to be the Black Doodler, a man who murdered fourteen men in San Francisco in the mid-seventies. The Doodler would sketch his victims and then stab them to death. He was never apprehended. Now, after thirty-five years of dormancy, he appears to have resurfaced...and the police seem to be doing everything they can to cover it up. Jack Burke intends to stop the murders and protect his friend...and no one is more qualified than Jack Burke to understand the mind of a killer.