A brutal murder has been committed, a suspect in custody, the date of execution has already been set, but what if an innocent is sentenced?When Anita Blake is approached for emergency advice by a familiar U.S. Marshal and asks her to fly to a small community in Upper Michigan, she realizes that time is short.. On the spot, she is given a lot of evidence that the young verleopard killed his uncle in the most monstrous and bloody of all possible ways. All evidence points to him, so the sentence is already at the execution stage. However, there is something wrong with this murder, so they attract Anita and wait for her expert opinion on the crime scene. Despite increasing pressure from the cops and the family's demand to punish their elder's killer, Anita quickly realizes that some evidence may be rigged.. Time plays against Anita, because a cohesive community is ready to rebel, and their fear of supernatural beings is growing. In the name of justice, Anita rushes to find out the truth and find out whether the marshals really caught the killer or are going to execute the innocent.