Both men get involved in a drama regarding the return of Roy Purdy, a wife abuser whose existence threatens Sully's ex-lover, Ruth.

Additionally, Raymer works cases involving a crumbling building, a dissolving cemetery, and the illegal smuggling of dangerous snakes.

[2] Reviewing it for The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Maloney said it was "a madcap romp, weaving mystery, suspense and comedy in a race to the final pages.".

[3] In the Star Tribune, Kevin Canfield called it "a decidedly bittersweet affair, a sequel that proves both entertaining and elegiac".

[4] Reviewing it for the Portland Press Herald, Michael Berry concluded that the novel "displays his trademark style, that easy, sardonic and yet not unkind authorial voice that reveals the characters’ inner lives, full of well-worn habit and surprising contradiction, with honesty, humor and compassion.".