“Straley knows how to wrap deadly violence in a bubble of black humor that suits the novel's beautiful but harsh setting . . .”  -- New York Times

Criminal defense investigator Cecil Younger spends his days coaching would-be felons on how to avoid incriminating themselves. He even likes most of the rough characters who seek his services. So when Sherrie, a returning client, asks him to track down some evidence to clear her of a domestic violence charge, Cecil agrees and soon finds himself in violation of one of his own maxims: Nothing good comes of walking around with a lot of someone else’s money.

In this case, “nothing good” turns out to be a deep freeze full of drug-stuffed fish, a murder witnessed at close range, and a kidnapping and Cecil turns to an unlikely source for help: the misfit gang of clients he’s helped to defend over the years. Together, they devise a plan, but when your only hope for justice lies in the hands of a group of criminals, things don’t always go according to plan.

BUY