When Charlie is arrested for the murder of a white businessman, Lena knows she can't stay on the sidelines. Charlie isn't just her pianist, he's family. Gentle, talented, and incapable of harming anyone. In 1924 Harlem, if a black man's word counted for nothing. A black woman's counted for less. Lena knew something the police didn't. She grew up in this neighborhood. She knew the speakeasies where secrets were made, where uptown and downtown rub shoulders, and back rooms where powerful people did as they pleased. Theo wasn't innocent. He made a living squeezing everyone he could, leaving a trail of scorned enemies from backstreet musicians to high-street politicians. And it looks like someone had finally had enough. Every night after her set at the Cotton Club, Lena gets to work, chasing down leads, exposing a dark web of scandals and corruption she wants little to do with. But as the walls close in and time runs out, Lena must prove Charlie's innocence before he dies for a crime he didn't commit.