On the eve of publisher Mikael Blomkvist's story about sex trafficking between Eastern Europe and Sweden, two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Mikael Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander--the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid years before.

Homicide detective Tick Kelly turned his back on the world the day his wife and children were murdered. After holing up in Mango Key and drowning his grief in Jack Daniels, Tick is sober and a bestselling author but his brother Pete keeps trying to drag him back to the land of the living. Then special agent Kate Rush is asked to move to Mango Key to investigate human trafficking there, and the Kelly brothers seem to be suspects.