The murder that Detective Maggie Reardon has solved at a local Tucson art gallery creates unforeseen difficulties in her personal life. Then, to complicate matters, a corpse is discovered at a museum lying under a bed of cactus. What at first appears to be a tragic accident quickly starts to smell like murder. Maggie's been dealt a nameless victim with no witnesses, no suspect, and no apparent cause of death. And as the evidence unfolds, she must also battle a hostile fellow cop, determined to see her lose her badge...