Tolumora, New Mexico is shattered by a shockwave of unbelievably vicious sex killings.  And this time the pattern is unique---way out of line with traditional violent-crime psychology. 

In Detective Noah Bain's experience, a psychopath always chooses anonymous targets.  But the Tolumora victims know and trust their killer.  The meet willingly in hotel rooms, even in their homes.  They don't fight when the leather cuffs are fastened to their wrists and ankles.   They don't even struggle when the first blows fall....

Bain's first lightning instinct is that the victims expected their torture.  They were practicing masochists, part of a secret society that includes some of the city's most prominent women.  They helped choreograph their own punishments---every blow. 

Trouble is, they just didn't expect to die.

NOTE: fanfic paring

NOAH BAIN  (It Takes A Thief, 1968)  The Hero

&

MARISSA COOPER (The O.C.) The Villianess