Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him. Chandler is a true crime writer, with one grisly success – and movie adaptation – to his name, along with a series of subsequent lesser efforts that have paid the bills but not much more. But now he is being offered the chance for his big break: to move into the house – which locals call ‘The Devil House’ – in which a briefly notorious pair of murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected 1980s teens. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected – his own work and what it means, the very core of what he does and who he is.