Washington D.C. 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department & set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner Frank Hound Dog Vaughn is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value the case leads him onto Vaughns turf where a local drug addicts been murdered shot point-blank in his apartment. Soon both men are on the trail of a ruthless killer: Red Fury so called for his looks & the car his girlfriend drives but a name that fits his personality all too well. Red Fury doesnt have a retirement plan as Vaughn points out
- he doesnt care who he has to cross or kill to get what he wants. As the violence escalates & the stakes get higher Strange & Vaughn know the only way to catch their man is to do it their own way. Rich with details of place & time
- the cars the music the clothes
- & fuelled by non-stop action this is Pelecanos writing in the hard-boiled noir style that won him his earliest fans & placed him firmly in the ranks of the top crime writers in America.