Ellis Alves is a bad kid from the 'hood with a long record, but did he really murder Melissa Henderson, a white student from ritzy Pemberton College? Alves's former lawyers think he was framed, and they hire Spenser to uncover the truth. As he and longtime associate Hawk race from the backstreets of Boston to Manhattan's most elegant Avenues, Spenser gets a postgraduate course in the seamy side of life.
