Homicide Sergeant Matthew Payne is used to murder, but lately there’s been an awful lot of it in Philadelphia. A gangland shooting in a popular tourist location has left six dead, most of them innocent bystanders, and days later the body of a headless Latina turns up in the Schuykill River. Everybody assumes they’re not related, but Payne can’t shake the hunch that there’s something more to it—and that hunch leads him far from the City of Brotherly Love to the Texas–Mexico border. There, he finds a world where the lines of law and order are murkier than he ever...

Homicide Sergeant Matthew Payne is used to murder, but lately there’s been an awful lot of it in Philadelphia. A gangland shooting in a popular tourist location has left six dead, most of them innocent bystanders, and days later the body of a headless Latina turns up in the Schuykill River. Everybody assumes they’re not related, but Payne can’t shake the hunch that there’s something more to it—and that hunch leads him far from the City of Brotherly Love to the Texas–Mexico border. There, he finds a world where the lines of law and order are murkier than he ever imagined possible, and the daily question is “ O Plato o Plomo?” Silver or lead. Cash or death.

Which will Matt Payne take? Or will he just go home, glad to be alive . . . ?