Nick Polo, a San Francisco shamus in jail on trumped-up embezzlement charges, is released early--so he can give some secret help to Mayor Barbara Martin: on the eve of her bid for a Senate campaign, the Mayor's being blackmailed with porno-tapes (made while she was in a drug-induced trance). Polo starts tracking down the pathetic porno personnel, with advice--and other personal attention--from a classy porn-queen. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that the ruthless henchman of the Mayor's primary political rival is the mastermind behind the blackmail. And Polo finds himself drugged, framed for murder, and nearly mauled to death by a dog named Satan--as the mayhem escalates (and foul politicos switch sides) in the aftermath of the Mayor's suicide. Unpretentious, violent, breezy action-sleuthing--with an oddly likable narrator-hero who keeps both macho posturing and hard-boiled introspection to a welcome minimum.