A woman with a murky past who kills herself. A dying old man. A lovely woman. A professional shoplifting ring. A brutal and unscrupulous gangster. A wandering husband. A spoiled kid. A lonely widower. An elegant but ruthless businessman whose dealings are definitely outside the law: the spider at the center of the web. And in the middle of it all is Kinsey Millhone, whose 38th-birthday gift is a punch in the face that leaves her with two black eyes...