The thing about Hap and Leonard is they aren't detectives in any real sense, neither professionally or as amateurs. They're troublemakers and troubleshooters. The closest they come to investigating is to find some likely looking people and throw attitude at them until they crack and try to kill them. It has its drawbacks, of course, as you can never be sure the people trying to kill you are doing it because you've cracked the case or just because. Other things try to kill them, too, such as, in this case, a mean Texas winter, and the mean Texas winter isn't even a suspect.

Asked by a friend to go looking for his girlfriend, Florida Grange, who also happens to be Hap's ex, the dynamic duo stumble into a viper's nest of a town where even the nicest of people are a little bit virulently racist. Leonard goes down a storm and people are trying, or at least threatening, to kill them in no time flat, but no amount of being nearly killed with savage brutality seems to get them nearer to finding Florida. Doesn't make them give up, either.

Between the stunning vulgarity of the dialogue and the heart wrenching pain of Hap's lonely heart, lies a lot of violence and meanness, but also loyalty and honour in a dirty old world. As Leonard might say: 'Shut up and pass the vanilla cookies.'