John Denson, the Seattle private eye with a taste for screw-top wine and beautiful women, and his partner, Willie Prettybird, a shaman of the Cowlitz tribe, are up against their deadliest case: an engineered outbreak of anthrax in the Pacific Northwest that may kill hundreds of people, including John and Willie - unless they can locate the villain who's spreading the disease. Once tobacco-chewing cattle baron Monty Hook calls in the fearsome duo, the list of suspects balloons: what of the rodeo cowboy determined to strut his stuff at Chief Joseph Days this weekend, or the gorgeous barkeep with a roving eye, or the ancient but spry teacher intent on enjoying this week's reunion of her old high-school students? And what of the chief of police himself - not to mention the televangelist Hamm Bonnerton, in town for some quick fund-raising? One of them's playing liar's dice, and coming up snake eyes. And killing people...