A stray cat traumatized by some past act of cruelty, a hidden cache of pornography, a close neighbor's illicit love affair . . . soon Terry is drawn into a mystery more chilling than any in her fictional studies. And back in the classroom she is uncovering a secret, erotic side to academia, where moral rules are suspended and where a tragic obsession may prove deadly for the innocent . . . or for a woman seeing too clearly into a killer's dark and merciless heart.