Blues okruga Tishomingo

Dennis Lenahan, a professional diver in his late 30s, an "adrenaline man" who lives for excitement and danger, arrives at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. He wants to make his spectacular jump from a 24-meter platform into the pool - one last chance to prove himself before his career ends. But on his first day, from the top of the tower, he witnesses a murder: two men from the local Dixie Mafia (a Southern branch of the mafia) kill a third man for debt or betrayal. Dennis sees everything, and they see him.

Instead of running away, Dennis stays - drawn by both fear and adrenaline. He is warned: "If you talk, you're dead." He soon becomes entangled in a web of characters: the charismatic and dangerous Germy Germaine, the boss of the Dixie Mafia who organizes large gambling games and re-enactments of the Civil War (where the Southerners always fight for the Confederacy); Anne de Carlo, an attractive woman with connections to the mafia; and Robert Taylor, a black musician and con artist who pretends to be from New York but has his own plans for a major con.

The story revolves around gambling, drugs, racism in the Deep South, Confederate pride, and trying to survive in a world where everyone is on the edge. Dennis and Robert become reluctant allies – one a white man from an amusement park, the other a black man from the streets – as they try to get their lives out of mob conflicts, lies, and betrayals. Leonard masterfully builds tension through dialogue full of humor, cynicism, and authentic Southern slang.