Annabelle Wolfe is used to doing things her way. But in 1890 Ohio, doing things "your way" isn't always easy. A woman is expected to marry early and be a dutiful wife and mother. Much to her own mother's chagrin, Annabelle wants nothing to do with such a sedentary life. So By the age of twenty, she's graduated college, studied law, and passed the bar.

Unfortunately, now no one will practice law with her, and Annabelle is forced to clerk for her judge father and write detective stories under a male pen name. Life takes an unusual twist when she chances on the dismembered body of a young woman. The police are stymied and, hoping to make her mark, Annabelle decides to catch the killer on her own.

But in the coming months, the body count continues to climb as the murderer foils every attempt at capture. Annabelle finds she not only must match wits with a killer who seems unstoppable, but face an equally hostile public who feels that she is doing a "man's job."

Along the way, Annabelle enlists the aid of her younger cousin Rebecca and jaded lawman Jacob Sullivan. But, in the final showdown, with everything in the balance, it is Annabelle Wolfe alone who must face down the killer to save her friends and stop the bloody rampage.