"'I could just kill you right now!' It's something we've all thought at one time or another. But Ruby has actually acted on it. Three times, to be exact. Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath. She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She's felt empathy and sympathy. She's had long-lasting friendships and relationships, and has a husband, Jason, whom she adores. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach PD are not...

Rookie cop Tito Morales arrives at the Trianon Hotel in time to see a wealthy oilman plunge ten stories and impale himself on a nearby fence. Soon Morales is joined by detective Jimmy Paz. Together Paz and Morales enter the hotel and discover, in the dead man's room, a most unusual suspect, an otherworldly woman by the name of Emmylou Dideroff. She emerges from a rapturous, prayerlike state and admits that she had a motive for killing the oilman....

The small red box wrapped in white ribbon seems innocent enough, but it protects a bloody secret - a human heart. When this gruesome package is discovered in a dinghy tied to the dock next to the house Detective Sam Becket shares with his wife, Grace, and their young son, he realizes that it can only mean one thing - Cal the Hater, the psychotic killer who has haunted his family for years, has returned.