DIRE COVENANTS is a contemporary mystery/police procedural. Detective Sergeant Donald Dombrowski and his partner, Detective Katie Callahan, are not convinced that the body, found slumped in the driver's seat within the exhaust-choked garage, is really a suicide. Will this be the only homicide staged to appear otherwise? The investigation winds through shady real estate scams, illicit mobile drug labs, money laundering, kidnapping, and murder. As the detectives delve deeper, violence and the body count escalate. Meanwhile, Dombrowski must fend off his sister's well-intentioned, yet unwelcome, attempts to set him up with any one of her issue-laden divorced girlfriends. Equally distracted, Katie must face the helpless frustrations of dealing with her father's early onset Alzheimer's. All the while, she must tactfully discourage the attentions of young officers vying to be noticed by the attractive detective. Can circumstances get any worse? Ever heard of Murphy's Law? Count on it.