Sadie Wagner, a 36-year-old professor at the Flatirons Institute of Technology and Telecommunications, is entangled in a murder-laden puzzle that begins when animal rights protesters break into the biology labs and set 600 lab rats free. Shortly thereafter, a German chemist visiting the animal labs is poisoned. A shouting match with the victim the day before puts Sadie first on Lt. Michael Robb's suspect list. At the same time, Professor Daniel Simone, Sadies's long-time colleague, recently morphed to lover, has gone missing. She has only Tiger, her main canine squeeze, for help as she attempts to extricate herself from Lt. Robb's suspicions.