Bound by blood but divided by troubles as old as Cain and Abel, Moses Reed and Aaron Fox are sons of the same mother but with different fathers. Their fathers were both cops, partners and friends, but their turbulent family history has set the brothers at odds, despite their shared calling. Moses - man of few words - is a no-frills LAPD detective. Aaron, sharp dresser and smooth operator, is an ex-cop turned high-end private eye. Usually they go their separate ways. But the disappearance of Caitlin Frostig isn't usual. For Moses, it's an ice-cold mystery he just can't solve, even with the help of psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis. For Aaron, it's a billable-hours bonanza from his most lucrative client. Like it or not, they're in this one together.

A straight-A student, Caitlin has only two men in her life: her sullen single father and her college sweetheart - whom even the battling brothers agree seems too straight to be true. Reluctantly working together, Moses and Aaron zero in on Caitlin's boyfriend expecting that, like most people in LA, he has a secret side.

But what they uncover is the sinister, seamy side of the City of Angels after dark, populated by a Hollywood Babylon cast of the glamorous and the damned: a millionaire movie director turned hate-mongering eccentric; a desperate Beverly Hills housewife; a heart-throb actor being eaten alive by personal demons; a hooker who's probably seen it all...and might just know too much. And at the centre lies a dead young woman.