When competing card sharps stir up Siobh n O'Sullivan's quiet Irish village, a poker tournament turns into a game of Hangman . . .

In the small village of Kilbane in County Cork, for a cuppa tea or a slice of brown bread, you go to Naomi's Bistro, managed by the many siblings of the lively O'Sullivan brood. For a pint or a game of darts--or for the poker tournament that's just come to town--it's the pub you want.

One player's reputation precedes him: Eamon Foley, a tinker out of Dublin, called the Octopus for playing like he has eight hands under the table. But when Foley is found at the end of a rope, swinging from the rafters of Rory Mack's pub, it's time for the garda to take matters into their own hands. Macdara Flannery would lay odds it's a simple suicide--after all, there's a note and the room was locked. But Siobh n suspects foul play, as does Foley's very pregnant widow. Perhaps one of Foley's fellow finalists just raised the stakes to life and death.

With conflicting theories on the crime--not to mention the possibility of a proposal--tensions are running high between Siobh n and Macdara. Soon it's up to Siobh n to call a killer's bluff, but if she doesn't play her cards right, she may be the next one taken out of the game . . .