Thursday night's political science class is pulling in an unlikely crowd: the teacher's a slick lawyer who wears $400 shoes, and the worst student is a mob henchman who nods off as soon as the lecture begins. Not that Jimmy Flannery is one to judge. What's this idealistic sewer inspector, Chicago ward chief, and new father doing at night school anyway?

He's getting an education in the finer points of the Chicago machine, where politics, patronage, and organized crime shake hands. Jimmy - a decent guy in a dishonest world - is familiar with his town's mangled grammar, its dirty contract deals, and the strange disappearances of those who become a liability. But night school is fast becoming a crash course in crime.

First one classmate - the mob figure - dies in a suspicious mugging, and then the teacher, attorney Frank Vollmer, drops out of sight after promising Jimmy he'll take on a pro bono case. Using his vast network of local connections both within and way outside the law, Jimmy weaves together a complicated picture that includes cheating spouses, suicide, and two disputed legacies. One involves a very well-off canine. The other, far more sinister, will determine who controls the city of Chicago.