Edgar winner Handler brings back odd couple Desiree "Des" Mitry and Mitch Berger for a second enjoyable round of murder and mayhem (after 2001's The Cold Blue Blood) in the normally peaceful environs of coastal Dorset, Conn. Mitch, a New York City film critic and author of two movie reference books, is spending his first autumn on Big Sister, a private island off Dorset. Des, black, beautiful and a former homicide investigator for the Connecticut state police, has opted for such mundane duties as directing traffic, allowing her to pursue art classes at the famed Dorset Academy. Both get caught up in a squabble that pits pro-development locals against those who want Dorset to remain as it is. They also get trapped in the orbit of eccentric sculptor Wendell "Hangtown" Frye, his two wildly different daughters and murder.