Welcome back to New Royal, Ohio, where the last descendent of its founding family, ninety-seven-year-old Viola Horup, has been bludgeoned to death in her mansion on an icy December night, leaving behind boxes of treasure and garbage. Detective Steve Rasmussen isn't a stupid man, but he likes simple solutions, meaning he's destined to butt heads with Crocus Rowe, a punk ex-con alumna of the University's Crime Writing Program, who doesn't believe that Viola's murder is just a "robbery-gone-w...