Gun, with occasional music

A hard-boiled detective tale full of talking animals and murder, from the award-winning author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Arrest.Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problemstheres a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage.Mixing elements of sci-fi, noir, and mystery, this clever first novel from a beloved author is a wry, funny, and satiric look at all that the future may hold. Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps hes falling a little in love with her at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitors Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse.Newsweek';Marries Chandlers style and Philip K. Dicks vision.'';MarvelousStylish, intelligent, darkly humorous, and highly readable entertainment.'San Francisco Examiner