Beautiful and ruthless television reporter Suzanne Shepard made her name by airing brutal celebrity gossip and earned a roster of high-profile enemies in the process. But her own murder was more than a scandal . . . it was a horror show.

At first glance, the mutilated corpse lying still in the Manhattan rain bears all the earmarks of a random sex slaying. But federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas knows that too many people wanted Suzanne Shepard dead for her murder to have been a coincidence.

Sifting through the scandals that fueled the dead reporter's career keeps Melanie from obsessing about her own intense affair with sexy FBI agent Dan O'Reilly. But Melanie's own murder may be the next one to make headlines, now that blood-chilling e-mails are arriving from an anonymous "admirer" who knows far too much about the Shepard slaying . . . and about Melanie's every move.