During real estate boom times, risks are overcome by ever improving market conditions. When the boom ends, as so often happens, lenders can get stuck with half finished projects and no ability to complete them. Lenders then sell the projects at a loss or hire someone like Marcus Flint to "work out" their problems, which is easier said than done.
Flint is a recently diagnosed diabetic when he dies suddenly from a supposed seizure at the grand opening of the Apogee development in La Jollaone of those "work out" projects. Bishop Bone is asked to write Flint's memoir, but he soon comes to believe Flint's death was actually murder. This realization could get Bone killed, as powerful people do not want the truth revealed.
Details of Flint's memoir have the power to expose those involved in the Apogee development and, possibly, in Flint's death. To stay alive, Bone has to continue his investigation while ducking the project's developer, terminated employees, Flint's brother-in-law, jilted husbands, and yes, even Flint's widow. Who knew real estate development was so dangerous?