A USA Today Bestselling Author During a cruel High Lonesome winter comes a cryptic letter for Smoke Jensen, telling of skullduggery by gold barons, railroad magnates, and Chinese tongs in San Francisco. Smoke knows only one person there: the well-rounded, good-natured Francie, madame of one of the town"s notorious pleasure palaces. Smoke once rescued her from raiding Cheyenne, but now Francie is mysteriously dead . . . and Smoke"s arrival in San Francisco is not welcomed.