Joe Dennis is a private detective. He's old and tired and has never been very bright, but he makes a living. Do no harm, he tells himself, like a doctor. He's hired by Amos Johnson, a real doctor, to find his grandson. The grandson was a child when the mother took off with him, after Johnson's son was killed. That's not right. It's been twenty-five years and Johnson wants to meet the man who will get all his money. Finding people is easy. An easy case. Easy money. Everybody wins. Joe Dennis sets off like an old hound on a fresh trail. He goes back to the killing. The key, right? Find the mother. Then he notices someone following him. Then there's someone ahead of him. He finds a dead cop in an apartment he's searching. Now he's got trouble. From New York to Vermont to Quebec City to Iles de la Madeleine. He solves the case. No one's happy. No one's unharmed. Especially the dead.