You've seen the headlines. A newspaper reporter plagiarizes major stories while his editors look the other way. A television news magazine rigs vehicles to explode in a report on crash tests. A financial reporter hypes a stock after he invests in it. Who's watching journalism's "watchdogs?" Maybe what the news media need is a "media detective." In the late 1990's, Harlan Geyser turned his back on the excesses and exaggerations of the media and vowed never to "feed the beast again." As a former network news producer, Harlan served up more than his share of news-breaking entrees believing, at first, he was satisfying the palate of the viewing public, but learning over time he was actually feeding the egos of news personalities and the bottom lines of corporate media. Harlan, however, did return to his former profession, not as a participant, but as a watcher, an observer, an investigator. At the urging of his old boss, Harlan became a "media detective" with the newly formed Media Affairs Division. The division was a creation spawned by media scandals, public distrust and dwindling profits. Media Affairs resembles Canada's Ontario Press Council or Britain's Press Complaints Commission, but with a distinctly American twist with the use of media detectives who look into the most serious and costly complaints and crimes. Occasionally the media investigations include conspiracy and murder. When Harlan sets out to attend the funerals of his closest friend, Arizona news anchor Walt Simons and Walt's entire family, he uncovers a murderous plot that involves everyone from a hit man to some of the most powerful in the nation's capital.