In mid-December of 2008, Detective Artie Cohen receives a panicked call from ex-girlfriend Lily, now living at Sugar Hill's famed Louis Armstrong Apartments. Her elderly Russian neighbor has died, and Lily fears that she is at fault. As more residents die, Artie discovers a world filled with tangled relationships and surprising secrets.

With his wife out of town and his nephew Billy Farone due to be released from the young offenders' institution where he has been serving time since stabbing Heshey Shank to death, Artie Cohen begins to worry when he uncovers evidence that Shank's vengeful family is out to ensure that Billy is locked up for good.

PI Artie Cohen, a former New York policeman, travels to Hong Kong to bust a narcotics ring which is marketing a new kind of drug in the U.S. The drug is irradiated heroin, known as Hot Poppy. By the author of Red Hot Blues.