Milan Jacovich, Cleveland's most popular private investigator, specializes in industrial security, but when another type of case comes up that is too good to resist he will agree to work on it. That is exactly what happens when Professor Carnine walks into his office in this 12th addition to the series.

Milan recognizes Dr. Carnine's name, but can't remember from where until Dr. Carnine explains. His daughter's body was found under a local bridge. The police agreed that 30-year-old Ellen Carnine committed suicide, or in street parlance "did the dutch." However, Dr. Carnine cannot accept that answer and wants Milan to find out what could have driven his daughter, somewhat of a recluse, to take her own life? He is filled with guilt that maybe there was something about his daughter he should have known, that maybe there was a way he could have helped her. Reluctantly, Milan agrees to take the case knowing that the outcome will not be happy for anyone.

Milan finds that Ellen spent most of her time on the computer either working or on the Internet and that she was appreciated by her bosses, a pair of young Cleveland entrepreneurs who made movies. But interviews with her few friends lead him to see her as an independent person who got satisfaction from her work and had accepted the fact that she was seriously overweight and physically unattractive.

Digging further, Milan comes upon upsetting small clues that shout "murder" to him, and suspicions about what her employers were actually up to grow. His investigation begins to take a different, and eventually dangerous, direction until he uncovers the horrific truth behind Ellen's death.