Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle thinks she's doing a friend a simple favor when she agrees to burglarproof an elderly recluse's apartment. But 24 hours later, when the woman turns up dead, with her apartment ransacked, Carlotta is left with a lot of questions. What was the old woman so desperate to protect? And just how much was the apartment worth to the greedy real estate developers who were breathing down her neck? Carlotta better find the answers fast-before an innocent woman is convicted of arson and a firestarter strikes again.