A dying blues singer is murdered and private detective Jake Falcon, introduced in author Warren Trest's Missing in Paradise, goes all out to track down the killer and find the victim's daughter, who seems not to exist. The search leads to the dregs of a black-market adoption ring that once flourished within the shadows of the segregated South. An underworld syndicate of hardened criminals (drug smugglers, human traffickers, murderers, and militant white supremacists), led by vicious, one-eyed Willie Abraham, stands in Falcon's way and leaves a trail of dead bodies to deter him. Crime-busting former Governor John Patterson brings a powerful ally to Falcon's side when he joins the battle to bring down Abraham's army of thugs and rescue Falcon to fight another day.