Mickey Dupree is one of the most successful criminal attorneys in upstate New York, having never lost a capital murder case.

That is the upside of being Mickey. The downside: Mickey has a lot of enemies, and one of them drives the shaft of a golf club through his heart, leaving him dead in a sand trap at his exclusive country club...

Just a few weeks earlier, the slippery lawyer earned an acquittal for Alan Comstock, the man accused of murdering Virgil Cain's wife. Comstock, a legendary record producer, gun nut, and certifiable lunatic, has returned to his estate, where he lives with his long-suffering wife. And after Virgil was overheard telling a crowded bar that 'somebody ought to blow Mickey's head off', the cops, led by dim-witted detective Joe Brady, quickly focus their attention on Virgil as the prime suspect.

It appears to Virgil that the fix is in when Brady immediately throws him into jail with no questions asked. So Virgil escapes from custody, determined to set things right and find Mickey's killer himself.

Everybody is convinced that Virgil is the culprit. His only ally is the smart and sexy Claire Marchand, a detective who is at least willing to consider that Virgil is telling the truth. Now it is up to Virgil to convince everyone of his innocence - by finding the killer, before the killer finds him...

Praise for Brad Smith

'Brad Smith is a writer with lots of skill, lots of heart, lots of brains.' - Richard Russo

'Brad Smith has got the goods - he's funny, poignant, evocative, and he tells a blistering tale' - Dennis Lehane

'Smith has marvellous control of his material, effortlessly mixing laugh-out-loud comedy with streaks of country noir that call to mind Daniel Woodrell' - Booklist

Brad Smith was born and raised in southern Ontario. He has worked as a farmer, signalman, insulator, truck driver, bartender, schoolteacher, maintenance mechanic, roofer, and carpenter. He lives in a eighty-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie. His novel, One-Eyed Jacks was nominated for the Dashiell Hammett Prize.