The second Hap and Leonard book is more of a mystery where the first was a suspense thriller, however it is about the same packed with irreverent but sometimes thoughtful dialogue and bad taste humour and bonecrunching violence.

Leonard inherits a house from his Uncle Chester, who he loved but whose homophobia spoiled their relationship in later years. Hap joins him in fixing the house up for sale, and in the process starts sleeping with Leonard's lovely lady lawyer, though her drive and ambition and his general relaxed waywardness may prove incompatible. Also his whiteness. A grisly discovery under the floorboards leads to a dark and disturbing investigation into child disappearances as Leonard tries to clear Chester's name, even if only for his own sake. Chester left clues, the product of a mind in decay, and Hap and Leonard struggle to make sense of them all, while Hap struggles just to keep hold of his new girlfriend.

This is where the series really hit its confident stride, its voices established, its poverty-stricken, racially divided milieu, its anything-can-happen attitude, its commitment to pure storytelling and everyday strangeness and bizarre, even surreal encounters with the stupid and the depraved and sometimes both. Incredibly fun and entertaining all the way.