Black private eye Ivan Monk's search for a connection between three Black men murdered in Los Angeles leadsto the unraveling of a white supremacist conspiracy that spans the West Coast.The mystery series that launched Gary Phillips's career.Robert “Scatterboy” Williams is a small-time hustler selling bogus Cartier watches in Pacific Shores, a port citysouth of Los Angeles. One day, he's gunned down in the street, seemingly at random. Then drug dealer RonnyAaron is shot and killed leaving a liquor store. Shortly thereafter, college student Jimmy Henderson is renderedcomatose after two bullets to his body. The three victims have nothing in common save the neighborhood wherethey were shot-and the color of their skin.The police categorize Scatterboy's murder as business as usual. But his girlfriend convinces private eye IvanMonk to find the killer. What looks like three unrelated shootings of Black men in Southern California will putMonk on a tortuous trail unraveling a larger nefarious plan: the rise of an extremist demagogue.