Our hero, Jack Lindsay, is a private investigator of the old schoolhard-nosed, hard-boiled, and hard-drinking. If he has a weakness, apart from a fondness for garibaldi biscuits, it is for a woman with a sob story, and one has just walked into his office, and into his life. Marian is purportedly looking for her husband, Michaelmas, though Jack suspects shes not telling him the whole story. By digging a little deeper, he finds himself becoming embroiled in a worldwide criminal conspiracy involving gun-smuggling, political assassination, and a chain of burger outlets. Soon Jacks got a lot more to worry about than just the local shortage of garibaldis.