On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan₂s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel₂s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel₂s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional. Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime, from the pages of her own book.