V.I. Warshawski isn't crazy about going back to  her old south Chicago neighborhood, but a promise  is something she always keeps. Caroline, a  childhood friend, has a dying mother and a problem --  after twenty-five years she wants V.I. to find the  father she never knew. But when V.I. starts  probing into the past, she not only finds out where all  the bodies are buried -- she stumbles onto a very  new corpse. Now she's stirring up a deadly mix of  big business and chemical corruption that may  become a toxic shock to a snooper who knows too  much.