When a Dublin art dealer is found lying in a pool of blood and a valuable French Impressionist painting is discovered missing, Inspector Peter McGarr must confront a crowd of the dealer's questionable cohorts: a double-dealing business partner, a neurasthenic wife, an embittered son, and a gardener/IRA bomb-thrower. McGarr maintains his gutsy composure, aided by his sassy wife, Noreen, an art expert, and a pensioned-off bomb-squad dog, the 'P.M.' - Prime Minister - of the title.