Hoke Moseley's boss is out for a promotion. His partner is having a baby. His ex-wife is moving to California with a major leaguer who makes ten times Hoke's policeman's salary. And Hoke's two daughters have shown up at his squalid, flea-bitten Miami Beach motel: they're expecting a dad.When it rains in Florida, it pours. Dead broke, Hoke needs to find a home inside the Miami city limits within twenty-four hours, while he and his pregnant partner, Ellita Sanchez, have been assigned fifty old unsolved murder cases by their chief. But while Major Willie Brownley wants results -- and all the credit -- for solving some cold cases, one very hot case won't let Hoke go. In fact, this little matter of a dead junkie and his beautiful stepmother might just be the answer to all of Hoke's prayers...New Hope For The Dead"Nobody Writes Like Charles Willeford...He Is An Original -- Funny, Weird And Wonderful."-- James Crumley"Pure Pleasure...Mr. Willeford Never Puts A Foot Wrong."-- The New Yorker