"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." — Neil Gaiman

It all began with a mysterious black satchel stitched closed with silver wire. Mrs. Matilda Hunter, Jerry Evans' landlady, finds the satchel and leaves it in his room — and then is heinously murdered. Before long, Jerry finds out about the contents of the satchel — a device known as the Michaux Death Ray — and he's off on an odyssey!