A mysterious fire sweeps through the commercial district of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and the police hypothesize that the blaze was set to cover up the murder of Big Al Costelano, a notorious P-town playboy, real estate tycoon, and mobster. The prime suspect is the victim's estranged half-Vietnamese, half-African American, drag queen lover, Tuki Aparecio.

Michael DeCastro, a Portuguese American, former fifth generation commercial fisherman, is Tuki's court-appointed attorney. Up until now, DeCastro has thrived on doing good deeds like tenant-landlord arbitration or representing the underprivileged in divorce and custody battles. He is thoroughly unprepared for the likes of Tuki and the whole pack of nasty little secrets trailing behind her from Bangkok's notorious tenderloin zone, the Patpong.

Knowing he should remove himself from the case, DeCastro finds himself both frustrated and intrigued by this dragon lady of 10,000 mysteries. And even though the evidence suggests otherwise, he believes Tuki is innocent. Unless DeCastro finds the creeps who framed her for the fire and murder, Tuki will die in prison, and he just can't let that happen.

Randall Peffer is the author of "Watermen, "Logs of the Dead Pirates Society, and six travel guides. His writing has appeared in "Smithsonian, "Reader's Digest, "National Geographic, "New York Times, "Washington Post, "San Francisco Examiner, "Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. He teaches literature and writing at Phillips Academy/Andover. This is his first novel.