New York: Mysterious Press, (1999). SIGNED hardcover first edition - A semi-authobiographical novel of the detective as a young man, set in 1953. "Pierce Duncan, just out of Notre Dame, sets off for the roads and rails of postwar America. It leads to strange & fateful meetings with individuals along the way; the most influential encounter is with a hard-nosed private eye who changes Pierce's life forever, leading him to San Francisco, where he must decide his ultimate path." SIGNED on the title page, and dated in January 1999, in the month of publication. 354 pp. ISBN: 0-892965932.