Harrison Mandell had come to the Arizona outpost of Yuma, on the bug infested banks of the Colorado, to find out who was stealing money from an upriver mining company called Mina del Agua Mala. But from the moment a saloon girl came running naked into the dusty street, and a love-crazed Indian was driven off with a shotgun, Mandell knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary case. Between him and the mine was a hard, muddy stretch of the swirling Colorado and a boat ride on the leaky Bad Water. On board was a motley collection of misfits, hard cases, whores, and pretenders. Throw in a barrel of gold, a killer on the run, and some missing postal orders, and the Bad Water would quickly become a place of death...