Nina has just received a last-minute call from her old boss and mentor
in Monterey County, California, where she is enjoying the breathtaking
scenery and spending time with her boyfriend, P.I. Paul van Wagoner.
Klaus Pohlmann is in desperate straits and begs Nina to take over a
seemingly unwinnable case: A luckless two-time felon named Stefan Wyatt
has robbed a grave and made off with the long-buried bones of a Russian
émigré. When he is caught and arrested, further devastating evidence
found in the grave suggests that Stefan is guilty of a far more deadly
crime. A young woman, a classmate of Stefan's, has been killed, and he
is accused of her murder. Now, as a result of California's Third Strike
law, Wyatt is looking at twenty-five years to life whether he's
convicted of grand theft or murder. Either way, he's in big trouble.
With her client's blood DNA found in the dead woman's apartment, Nina
faces an uphill battle. Suspecting that her hapless client has been set
up, Nina brings in a brilliant forensic pathologist who comes up with a
startling theory about the case that could rewrite a crucial page of
European history. As the evidence mounts against Nina's client, Paul
launches his own investigation into the shadowy past of the
two-decades-old skeleton. But long-held secrets nearly get him killed
and reveal a more insidious evil at work - and an extraordinary story
dating back to tsarist Russia and the Romanov court. As Wyatt edges
closer to the unluckiest verdict of his young life, Nina makes an
astounding discovery that just might save her client - or expose a
killer who could bury them all.
