The police want to talk to Isidore Strong’s friend Meryl Liu Quinn, a refugee from China’s Cultural Revolution upheavals, about the murder of her adoptive father, one of San Francisco’s beloved leading citizens, owner of a luxury department store, trustee of a medical center, funder of a repertoire theatre, and respecter of workers, but she has disappeared after telling Isidore innocent people must be protected before she can cooperate.
Her dilemma stirs up Strong’s deepest trauma, the murder of his own father, who had been a homicide detective. He is pulled away from his Cow Hollow home and the insulated academic life he has chosen, to face danger and right some wrongs.
With a classic motif of private investigator dramas—a beautiful woman walks into the office—Isidore's involvement begins when she takes a revolver out of her purse and lays it on the desk. What follows is an amateur sleuth detective story and buddy adventure that captures Isidore’s inner quest.
