A private investigator working out of Sitka, in the Alaskan coastal archipelago, Cecil Younger walks a narrow line between the truth and what his clients pay him to find....<br><br>Cecil Younger is a man who takes comfort in the absurdity of the universe.  And the universe is obliging him, with a joint phone call from his lawyer and his shrink, to convey a job offer from another client: all Cecil has to do is kill a man.<br><br>Though common sense tells him murder just isn't a good career move, his finances tell him it can't hurt to meet his potential client.  The decision will lead Cecil from a pathetic small-time murder to a decades-old slaughter that is still reaching into the present--and its dark and chilly grasp may extend to Cecil Younger himself....