Chapters 1-3 Summary

This is the second in a series of multiple novels that features the main character Dismas Hardy. Hardy was formerly a cop who went to law school and became a district attorney. However, the accidental death of his seven-month-old son causes Hardy to quit his professional life and drift aimlessly. Five months prior to the opening of this novel, he returns to criminal investigation when he investigates the murder of the husband of Frannie who is the little sister of his friend Moses McGuire. As payment for this case, Hardy receives a fourth of the ownership of McGuire's bar, the Little Shamrock.

In Chapter 1, Dismas Hardy is alone in the Little Shamrock bar where he works when Rusty Ingraham gets off a bus and comes inside. Ingraham was once Hardy's office mate when they both worked for the district attorney's office...