An old flame, Glen Withers, has come back into Cliff Hardy's life - but this time it's strictly business. Former policewoman Glen is now a PI too, and with a much classier clientele than Cliff's - she's been told 'money's no object' by her latest, a wealthy family from Sydney's eastern suburbs. Together, Cliff and Glen take on the case of Rodney St John Harkness, recent inmate of a mental institution and a recovering alcoholic with a murky, possibly murderous, history.
Cliff Hardy, with his PI license cancelled and his career in Sydney at an end, is preparing for a trip overseas. Cleaning out his office, he comes across an open file - an unresolved case from the 1980s. As he starts reading he's thrown back to his investigation of the disappearance of Justin Hampshire.
Still reeling from the shock death of his partner, Cliff suffers a heart attack - but this isn't enough to keep him from investigating the disappearance of the father of the woman nursing him back to health.
Stripped of his investigator's license, Cliff Hardy faces an uncertain future when something personal happens that provokes him into his best role: a confrontational investigator with a taste for violence and no regard for his lost credentials. Taking and dealing out punishment, mostly in Sydney's exclusive suburbs, Hardy encounters degenerate cops, bereft wives, and computer challenges.
Cliff Hardy is a Private investigator hired by Claudia Fleischman, beautiful, intelligent and rich. Claudia has just been charged with the murder of her husband. Cliff is soon deep in trouble with her, she drinks too much, smokes too much, is very lonely and soon business mixes with pleasure taking the relationship to the next level. Cliff's car is blown up and then one of his closest friends who was coming to meet cliff about the case is shot and killed.
