Byron and Dianne's marriage, while never perfect, had had its good times. No question. But she'd been into more than he could stand to admit-addiction can cause a person to behave in ways they never would otherwise. A test of a husband's love, resolve and dignity-but enough to move him to murder his childhood sweetheart?

The police with whom he once served seem to think Byron's guilty, as do the victim's parents. The rest of the town smells blood too, at least once the story hits the local press about a husband who'd had enough humiliation-as well as taken out a huge insurance policy only weeks before her death.

That leaves Robert Taylor, a faithful friend and attorney, along with muckraking TV host Sydney Biddle-and the bereaved husband himself-as the only ones left convinced of Byron Round's innocence. At the mercy of a legal system determined to win a conviction on premeditated, capital murder, the accused must prove to a jury that he'd never kill the woman he once loved, no matter what.