Mick "Brew" Axbrewder is a P.I. who's seen better days. A while back, deeply into alcoholism, he accidentally shot and killed a cop. Worse, the cop turned out to be his own brother. Even worse, in a case not long after that, in order to protect Brew from the consequences of his mistakes, his partner, Ginny Fistoulari, blew off her own left hand.
Now Mick works mostly as hired muscle for Ginny. They don't talk much; they've lost too much already. But their latest client's story doesn't add up. He claims to be on the run from mobsters to whom he owes large gambling debts. But he seems almost capriciously determined to get into harm's way and to drag Brew and Ginny into the line of fire beside him.
Just to survive this case, much less solve it, Brew and Ginny are going to have to start working together better. And Brew's going to have to face up to his greatest fears.