Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef of Port Dundas, Ontario is making her way toward retirement with something less than grace. Hobbled by a bad back and a dependence on painkillers, and blindsided by her recent divorce, sixty-one-year-old Hazel has only the constructive criticism of her old goat of a mother to buoy her. But when a Port Dundas woman is found murdered in her home - with no sign of resistance and her mouth sculpted into a strangely meaningful shape - Hazel's bickering department springs to life. And as more bodies are found, Hazel must confront a clamoring press and the town's rumor mill whilst she edges ever closer to this terrifying, gruesomely inventive serial killer.