Detective Sergeant Alan Goodson becomes partnered up with a young and pretty patrolman with more education than experience. In a town where they can't remember the last murder and where everyone knows the victim or the perpetrator, this should have been solved overnight. Statistics and previous practice tendencies prove to have little influence on the outcome of this investigation. Every little town law enforcement department has its own challenges with this one being further complicated by the in-office chatter and rumor building and then the late-night announcement the incumbent may not be running for reelection. Before it is all over, they have two people in jail and a murderer who is not. It is amazing what you can see when you are looking for something else. The focus, as well as the title both hang on the weapon of choice and how that choice had so carefully been made.