A human bone, neatly sawn through and uncovered by a badly conditioned bird dog while Balzic is out hunting with a fellow officer on land set aside for hunting club members. It turns out to be nasty business - secret sex, suppressed hatred. Balzic's solution brings technical justice but only a problematic chance for deserved mercy. Balzic's people are as interesting as the crime : his amused and competent wife, his savvy mother, the cops he commands, Dom Muscotti and the bar and grill he runs where Balzic does his drinking and some of his best thinking, and Mo Valcanas, a lawyer as shrewd as he is alcoholic. The talk is virtuoso American.