A man burdened by his past, former top homicide cop Justin Westwood has retreated to a small-town Long Island police force. Drowning his troubles in mindless traffic duty and lots of scotch, he’s awakened to action when a young woman journalist is brutally murdered. She had recently made some errors in the obituary of a man from a local retirement home, but that’s not the kind of mistake that brings professional hit men to your door-or the FBI to town.

          Attempting to unravel the puzzle, Justin finds that everyone-the cops, the FBI, and one of the strangest professional killing teams ever seen — seems to be one step ahead of him, disposing of witnesses and setting him up for the fall. But this reality check is just what Justin needs, and he’ll stop at nothing to discover the true meaning of "Aphrodite" — and maybe save himself.