'It has come to my attention, sir, that between August 1948 and September of 1952 you came into possession of at least three real estate properties. 'I have reviewed your tax records back to 1945 and you show no large income, in any year. This would suggest that you could not legally afford such expenditures...' When an income tax officer makes him an offer he can't refuse, Easy Rawlins is forced out of retirement and into the infiltration of his local church, the First African Baptist, and the surveillance of local radicals. The murderers strike and he becomes the prime suspect of the Los Angeles Police Department who lose no sleep over the fate of 'freelance' private eyes.