The dog days of summer have arrived, and Tai Randolph is feeling the heat. Running her uncle's gun shop is more demanding than she ever imagined. Her best friend Rico is competing for a national slam poetry title. And Atlanta is overrun with hundreds of fame-hungry performance poets clogging all the good bars.

She's also got her brand-new relationship with corporate security agent Trey Seaver to deal with. SWAT-trained and rule-obsessed, Trey has a brain geared for statistics and flow charts, not romance. And while Tai finds him irresistibly fascinating, dating a human lie detector who can kill with his bare hands is a precarious endeavor.

And just when she thinks she might get a handle on things, one of Rico's poets is murdered... and Rico becomes the prime suspect. Tai rolls up her sleeves and comes to his defense. But every poet in Atlanta has a secret, it seems, and one of them is willing to kill to keep theirs quiet...