When Wiley Poynter, a Charlie-Chan-quoting PI from Las Vegas visits his sister in southern Arizona the leader of local teenage rock band is found dead nearby. Assuming local police are inexperienced in dealing with murder, Wiley conducts a parallel investigation. Wiley finds that the dead teen had many local enemies, including all of his fellow band members. The likely motive(s) for the killing, Wiley discovers, are money, sexual jealousy, perhaps both. The victim was a gambler, a womanizer, and a homophobe. While questioning local suspects, Wiley asks a fellow Las Vegas PI to check on information given by the woman who found the teen's body. When his fellow PI is found beaten, Wiley's search in Las Vegas for the perpetrators leads him to what he thinks might be a connection to the Arizona killing.