Forensic pathologist Mike Malone was looking for some excitement, but he couldn't have known what awaited him when called to a murder scene by uber-neurotic Detective "Nervous" Purvis Masters early one Saturday morning. He would soon find that a little excitement could cost him his life. Dr. Malone wasn't exactly bored with life, but he was in a bit of a rut, doing the same things, day in and day out, at home and at work. So he welcomes the opportunity to get out of the county morgue and work the front lines of a murder investigation when he teams up with Detective Masters, whose partner is on vacation. The victim, a young Hispanic man with a criminal past, was brutally beaten to death in his home and impaled on a fireplace poker post-mortem. There would soon be two more bodies. The only things tying the three victims together are an unusual calling card and the fact that each was killed in an unusually cruel way. These are not petty robberies or home invasions gone bad. These murders are personal and meant to send a message. But what is the message? And who is it for? The investigation leads to a psychiatrist who was treating one of the victims. After an ill-fated meeting where he provides a preliminary psychological profile of the murderer, Mike and Purvis find themselves in a fight for their lives. It isn't until the killer is finally apprehended that they discover the motivation behind the murders and who is ultimately responsible.