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 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... '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.

For Virgil Cain, a day of fishing on the Hudson River yields more than he bargained for when, while pulling up anchor, he hooks onto a mysterious steel cylinder. As word of Virgil’s strange catch spreads around the local marina, it draws the attention of a crooked city cop, who seizes both the cylinder and Virgil’s boat. Soon, an old drug deal gone sour floats to the surface, and to get to the bottom of it—and to get his boat back—Virgil teams up with a captivating single mom, Dusty, who knows far too much about the cylinder and the pure cocaine it contains. When her past comes calling, the landscape is cluttered with the dealer who claims ownership of the cylinder, his murderous sidekick, and a wild card in the form of a crazy Russian cowboy. Virgil and Dusty find themselves trapped square in the middle of it all. And looking for a way out.

In upstate New York, Virgil Cain's draft horses are pulling hay in the fields when two film scouts offer him $500 a day for their use in a film. He pockets the money, but the chaotic set of Frontier Woman turns out to be more trouble than it’s worth. Producer Sam Jonson clearly has her heart in the wrong place with her husband-cum-director Robb, who costs her a major financier, not to mention the Native American casino owner Ronnie Red Hawk, who has a vested interest in an alternate leading lady. After one—and then a second—young woman is found dead, Virgil discovers that more is at stake than the interests of a casino magnate…and he’d better step in before the charming ten-year-old actress Georgia ends up the next victim of this deadly production. “Smith has a marvelous control of his material, effortlessly mixing laugh-out-loud comedy with streaks of country noir” (Booklist), and he is “a writer to watch, a comet on the horizon” (Dennis Lehane).