Social workers Hannah "Scrimp" Dubois and Earlene "Pinch" Washington have just started their own business, Social Investigations, to solve the murders of ten foster children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The New Orleans Police Department, the Catholic Church, and local politicians have sidestepped clues that point to those who hold great power, hampering their investigation., /p>
As Scrimp and Pinch discover more evidence, they realize that they are dealing with a force that crosses into the realm of the paranormal. Then they are thrown into a world much like Dante's purgatory. Soon they link the murderers to a secret organization called the White Army, or La Armee Blanc, centered in New Orleans, but rooted in medieval Europe and the Children's Crusades. Each clue leads to a beatitude, the characteristics of those who are deemed blessed: the pure of heart, the persecuted, the merciful, the sorrowful, the peacemakers, the meek, the poor in spirit, and those who hunger and thirst after justice. By the time the eleventh child-the sacrificial child-goes missing, Scrimp and Pinch are determined to prevent his death.
Racing against time and the threat of an approaching hurricane, these two bold, no-nonsense women work together to restore hope and bring closure to a city battered by sin.