A dark and brilliant new take on the literary detective genre. Art is a down and out gambler who has been hired to kill a woman working in a bar outside San Diego. Unfortunately for both of them he can't help falling in love with her before he does it. What follows is a strange tale in which Art tries to get to the bottom of the murder he himself committed. He soon learns that he is the only person alive who cares about the woman. He also finds out that although he may be able to escape the law and punishment, he can never truly escape his own fate.