A rare breed of bullbog and bloodhound, private detective Luke Starbuck has been hired to ferret out the Judas working for the Central Pacific-a mastermind behind a string of train robberies. The target: gold shipments from the Frisco mint. All Starbuck has to do is pass himself off as an outlaw and infiltrate the pack. But chumming up to a gang leader like Denny O'Brien means that Starbuck must follow him into the vice pits of the notorious Barbary Coast. Getting inside this hellhole of crime is dangerously easy if you make the right moves. Make the wrong ones, and getting out could be murder.