This is the second novel in Kennedy`s Albany Trilogy. Set in 1938, it focuses on the shadowy world of petty crime and bookmaking. There are characters who appear in the other novels such as the protagonist of this one, Billy Phelan, bookie and pool hustler, and Martin Daugherty, a newspaper columnist. However each novel stands on its own and one need not read them in order. The first volume of the trilogy is Legs and the third volume is Ironweed.