When his adopted daughter's friend reports that someone has been killing off a circle of nomadic panhandlers, Lucas travels to South Dakota, where he encounters a dangerously violent subculture.

Investigating the seemingly open-and-shut double homicide case involving a pair of wealthy elderly women, Lucas Davenport begins to suspect that the handful of small items that were stolen from the crime scene may have had more significant values.

Lieutenant Lucas Davenport attempts to solve the murder planned by an evil but intelligent man fascinated by all aspects of death.

Lt. Lucas Davenport, a Minneapolis detective who designs video games on the side, struggles to learn the rules of the game being played by a serial killer who has devised a plan for avoiding capture.

At 1:15 a.m, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he's waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, "Hey, I think he's breathing," and another voice says, "Yeah? Give me the bat." And that's the last thing he ever knows. Lucas Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then--very troublingly--to...

Terrified by her goth-associated daughter's disappearance and the signs of a deadly struggle in their home, a widow implores Lucas Davenport to use his connections to local authorities to expedite the investigation, which subsequently reveals the work of a serial killer.

Lucas Davenport is called for an unusual case. The strangulation victim is one of the biggest models, and there are a few complications such as the drugs in her body.

After a series of killings that disturbingly emulate the works of a trio of inmates currently being held at the Minnesota Security Hospital, Lucas Davenport investigates a missing man who was released from the hospital weeks earlier.