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This sexually charged, neo-noir thriller set in Palm Beach opens with the voice of dead homicide detective Jack Dobson narrating, á la "Sunset Boulevard," the tale of how he got that way. Unfolding in the form of a flashback,"Traces of Red" is a dizzyingly convoluted murder mystery involving the slayings of several prostitutes. Amid a sea of red herrings, the key clue is a series of notes, written in verse and signed with a lipstick kiss. The same lipstick turns up eventually on several of the females in the story -- a murdered waitress with whom Jack has a one night stand, his wealthy widowed girlfriend, his partner's wife. Jack will travel down more than one blind alley in his attempts to solve the case and everyone -- from his partner to his senatorial candidate brother to himself -- will be implicated in the crime.A brutal murder of a beautiful young woman unleashes a floodgate of corruption and sexual secrets as two detectives try to unravel the clueless mystery.
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