Jess is very much a single woman as a Homicide Detective in the States trying to bring a serial killer to justice, whilst overcoming her own personal challenges, a past that still causes her to have screaming, terrorising nightmares about what happened to her when she was a child. Capt. John Travis is a single parent following the accidental death of his wife when their daughter was just a baby. He has his own demons regarding his wife's death, whilst trying to bring up his little girl and managing to run a team of detectives. As work brings them closer together, Jess and John become attracted to each other, a feeling that scares Jess more than anything. She is concerned about having a relationship with John in case he is ashamed of her past and would abandon her. Trial and Error is the first novel in the Jess Carter series that intermingles personal and work life for the young detective.