Set in San Francisco and environs during the Civil War, it introduces Fergus O'Hara, the most roguish new detective in years, and his equally-engaging wife Hattie. Their first case is a complicated and wacky one. Among other people, places and things, it involves a corpulent financial speculator named Horace T. Goatleg, an insane parrot, a one-eyed man addicted to hoarhound drops, a suave gambler addicted to women, a boisterous Irish militia company known as the Mulrooney Guards, the San Francisco Volunteer Fire Department, a keg of beer, a careless footpad, the crew of the riverboat Freebooty, the Freebooty herself, two murders, a gold robbery, several assorted chases, what may literally be termed a bang-up finale on St. Patrick's Day morning, and, for good measure, a couple of bonus surprises.