Out-of-work journalist Benjamin Justice lost his Pulitzer in disgrace when it was revealed that he had fabricated parts of his work -- a poignant series on AIDS fictionalized with details of his own lover's death. Now he's been given his first assignment in years, helping a fellow reporter pen an insider's look at the film industry. But as Justice reluctantly attends a B-list party to do research for the article, a guest is found dead in the garden -- and his demise seems anything but natural.

The victim is Raymond Farr, an unscrupulous Tinseltown wanna-be who clawed his way through town while making enemies left and right. Justice, ever the investigative journalist, searches the city for answers, from sun-splashed Palm Springs to the shadows of Beverly Hills. But in the corrupt Babylon that is Hollywood, the truth can be hard to come by...and a tarnished reporter hardly has a chance in hell of separating fact from fiction -- and the true story from true peril.