Beerlight, the city of all our futures, is not a safe place. Crime - occasionally sophisticated, normally violent, always hilarious in its unintended effects - is the motor of the city's economy. Weaponry, rather than fast cars or designer clothes, is the ultimate status symbol. The cast of hoodlums includes burglar extraordinaire Billy Panacea, Kicker Charlie the casino owner, conman-cum-lawyer Harpoon Specter, Henry Blince the donut-obsessed Chief of Police, Getty Hundred Ram the unwitting bank-robber and other fun-loving felons who hang out at the Delayed Reaction Bar on Valentine Street. The narrator is only referred to as 'the clown' by his fellow criminals, and like all wise jesters, he holds a mirror up to our own world ...