Dan Kirk, a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, watched as police pulled the body of a young woman from the Clinton River, noting the single bullet hole and no identification. It was 1945 and the War was over. What tragedy could have befallen this woman at such a jubilant time? Kirk's investigation takes him to tiny Flat River, Missouri where the man accused of the murder, Clifford Malin, grew up, and where Kirk discovers a dark past. Malin left Missouri in 1920 for a career as a policeman in Detroit during a time of smuggling, corruption and The Purple Gang, the city's underworld bosses. Kirk discovers Malin found much more excitement than he had bargained for. Kirk's investigation into the life of the victim, Twyla Larson, reveals a woman who grew up in a small town and was simply interested in having a good time and saving money toward her husband's return from the War. Twyla's and Malin's worlds collide as each attempts to protect the new lives they have made. Based on actual events Desperate Measures, traces the lives of two people whose worlds collide in an explosion of scandal, graft, corruption and finally murder.