A few days before the Kentucky Derby, a rising star jockey is found murdered near Churchill Downs. Louisville homicide detective Laurel Arno's investigation takes her from the private back rooms of elite gamblers, to the ancestral mansions of Kentucky bourbon barons and horse breeders, to the treacherous corridors of the State Capitol. Along the way, she exposes a shadowy world of political corruption, secret societies, and ancient feuds. As she closes in on a hidden killer, she discovers that a killer may also be closing in on her.