Bright lights but a dark city! Gloria Morris is a scholarly, vehement, and hard-boiled private detective, a force of nature who doesn't suffer fools. She's also a lover, and her inamorata understands her swagger and quest for justice. Gloria must locate the runaway heiress to an industrial empire, a volatile young woman who is happy being on the lam in San Francisco, free of her family's dark secrets and business responsibilities. She feels she can protect herself, and perhaps she can, but people connected to her are dying, and someone is pulling the strings. Gloria navigates through The City, dealing with musicians, gutter punks, businesspeople, and the sexually audacious. Narcissistic lawyers, underground doctors, and hired killers enter the fray, and Gloria deals with them as only she can. But the runaway has a soft spot she was flabbergasted to discover in herself. How will it change her life, and will Gloria back her up?