In Los Angeles a foreign woman dies a gruesome death. When her autopsy reveals an even more horrific secret, Detective Finn O'Brien vows to find out who she is and why she died. Together with his partner, Cori Anderson, Finn follows a twisted trail that leads into the veiled and exotic world of L.A.'s exiled African community, the luxurious enclaves of Hollywood and finally to the doorstep of a third world despot whose cruelty knows no bounds and whose influence has a stranglehold on the City of the Angels.