It's the late eighties, and Sam Horner and Mike Silvers are longtime neighbors living in the San Fernando Valley. Both are experiencing significant life changes in the form of divorces and midlife crises. They decide to move in together in a small home on the quaint shores of the Venice California canals. In their new lives, Sam and Mike undergo a significant career change: they become private detectives. First, they must solve the mystery of who is killing pets in an affluent section of Santa Monica. Next, they are hired to resolve the issue of stolen Mercedes in a prosperous area of the San Fernando Valley. Finally, they are employed by a Santa Monica woman to discover what her husband has been concealing from her. When the man is murdered outside of a West Los Angeles bar, however, Sam and Mike find themselves taking on much more than they bargained for. As they try to keep their client safe and to determine who had killed her husband, they travel to San Francisco, where Sam encounters many ghosts of his past. In this mystery novel, two recently divorced middle-aged men become private detectives and are soon involved in a murder investigation while protecting their client.