One night a young woman disappears.. . In broad daylight a retired teacher is stabbed to death.. . In a small-town beauty parlor two women are butchered.. . Three baffling cases linked only by a lack of motive until psychologist Alex Delaware & LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis stumble upon a clue. A stolen luxury car is found undamaged & unblemished
- except for a tiny solitary bloodstain. Soon they uncover other expensive cars 'borrowed' before a killing. Soon the pair are hunting for a multiple killer from LA high society to its desperate slums even to New York & a forgotten cold case. However the killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter defying identification. To unmask him Alex & Milo will have to understand his murderous compulsion.