St. Paul, Minnesota, 1939. Lieutenant Wesley Horner is heading a police investigation into the brutal murder of a beautiful showgirl. His chief suspect is Herbert White an eccentric recluse and hobby photographer who spends his days writing gushing fan letters to Hollywood starlets and, recording his life in detailed journal entries and scrapbooks.Then another dancer is found murdered, and the clues point once again to Herbert White. In his extraordinary second novel, Robert Clark examines the inner worlds of two very different men and the women in their lives. He illuminates the complex relationships between truth and fiction, past and present, while exploring the nature of faith and memory.