Once a cop. Always a cop . . .

Ex-NYPD detective Dave Gurney is supposed to be retired. But people with problems keep knocking on his door. Like the police, for instance, who are baffled by a gruesome murder they just can't seem to solve.

A young bride has been killed in the middle of her own wedding reception. The prime suspect - her new husband's Mexican gardener - is missing. As is the murder weapon - likely a machete - used to decapitate the bride.

The police have drawn a blank. It's as if the killer has vanished into thin air. But when Gurney begins his investigations, he finds that a baffling murder is just the latest of many sadistic crimes committed by an individual who'll do anything to avoid capture.