Erwin Tennyson is an unemployed newspaper writer who made his living reviewing detective novels until he lost his job in the Great Recession. When he stumbles over a woman's dead body in a park, he reports his find to the budget-challenged Austin, Texas police, and is convinced the woman was murdered. He is appalled when he learns the police have listed her death as a "Jane Doe suicide." When Erwin can't find another paid book reviewer's position, he decides to become a private investigator to try to earn a living-and track down the woman's killer. But Erwin is no tough guy. He has zero fighting skills, and he hasn't fired a gun in 40 years. Working as a P.I. without a state license is a felony in Texas; only ex-cops or university graduates with criminal justice degrees qualify for the permit. Undaunted, Erwin takes the law into his own hands and risks arrest as he investigates, unaware that he also is setting himself up to be the killer's next victim.