Detective Mike Hoolihan, an American policewoman, a 'police' in cop parlanc e, begins to investigate the suspicious death of Jennifer, a police colleag ue's daughter. The evidence swings towards suicide -the gun in her hand, th e suicide note, the secret history of depression and drug addiction, and th en swings away - three shots to the head; could a suicide adminster THREE, and why does the autopsy reveal no sign of drug abuse? As Mike probes furth er into Jennifer's life and death, she approaches the puzzle at the dark he art of the case: 'If not who, then why?' That unanswerable question resonat es throughout this haunting short novel and even when Mike announces her in vestigation concluded and case closed, it lingers in her readers' mind.