When four armed policemen turn up at Easy Rawlins's door, he thinks he's in trouble. He is. They want him to find Rosemary Goldsmith, the daughter of a millionaire arms dealer. And Easy can't afford to say no. The LAPD think she's with Bob Mantle, a black boxer turned radical. Has she been kidnapped? Is she colluding? When Easy is almost gunned down on his first day on the case, he realises he'll need more than wits to find Rose Gold.