Private detective and occasional journalist Harry Rigby is a fan of cigarettes, the easy life, and Robert Ryan as the villain in old black-and-white films. So far, so good! But when the wife of a prominent politician is murdered in her finest nightgown, Rigby finds himself caught in the crossfire between nasty parasites, jealous husbands, and Interpol investigators, all while navigating the heaviest cocaine blizzard that northwest Ireland has ever seen. As if that weren't enough, his relationship with his girlfriend Denise is so frosty that he could use it to chill his all-too-frequent drinks—and on top of that, his psychotic brother Gonzo has returned, ruthless, cold-blooded, and vengeful like a wounded shark. Burke's razor-sharp, fast-paced, and punchy story is a wild crime pleasure—drawing inspiration from American hardboiled classics like Raymond Chandler.