In the shadows of a derelict beachfront apartment, a woman finds the crouching form of her cousin, dead by her own hand. But what brought about the decision to die? The irrational promptings are the ones that can lead to the deepest truths, and for Bella Marx, these are bound up with a disturbing sense that someone-a person unknown-was involved in this most final of decisions. A story within the story leads to ambiguities, uncertainties, and questions of identity that are the conditions of Bella's search. From Venice Beach to Berkeley and San Francisco's western edge, she follows a tenuous thread of taunting and sinister clues in a journey of revenge and self-discovery. Suicide can be murder.