Teenagers Matt Delaney and his mate Ante Vukovich steal a priceless religious vessel and in the course of the burglary a man is killed, setting in motion personal and political mayhem. It is 1955 and they just want to be milk-bar cowboys against the squares and their suffocating rules banning unmarried sex and excessive speed and anything worth doing. Matt's uncle Dan Delaney is out of the police and in a dead-end job when Matt's alcoholic mother begs Dan to sort out a charge of murder against her son. They live in what is called West Auckland's Dallie Valley, Ante is Dalmatian and his fascist Catholic Croatian relation has arrived to reclaim the religious icon that could unite his homeland challenge to Yugoslav communist rule. Dan Delaney's only ally against the Croatian and corrupt and brutal police is an ex-Commissioner of Police assisting the National Government clean up the police and establish a separate security intelligence service.

'McGill's trilogy of local thrillers are all pacy novels that are informed by honest and astute social histories. He imagines political incidents and crafts satisfying narrative action around them that opens up an alternative history that just might have been!' Murray Gray, Founding Director, Going West Books & Writers' Festival

'Told at breakneck speed ... a gripping read full of fascinating history ... thick with 1950s slang and outlook.' Alyson Baker, Crime Watch