The streets of Bay City, California, in the early 1950s are as mean as they get. Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and the private eye business is a little slow.

Then a new client is shown in: blond, beautiful, and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover.

Almost immediately, Marlowe discovers that the man's disappearance is merely the first in a series of bewildering events. Soon he is tangling with one of Bay City's richest and most ruthless families-and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune.