Playing cops was just a game until the bullets were real.
The gravy train hasn't stopped in the hollers of western Virginia for
more than thirty years when Stony Shelor starts his junior year at Jubal
Early High. Class divides and racism are still the hardened norms as the
Eisenhower years draw to a close. Violence lies coiled under the calm
surface, ready to strike at any time.
On the high school front, the cool boys are taking their wardrobe and
music cues from hip TV private dick Peter Gunn, and Dobie Gillis is
teaching them how to hit on pretty girls. There's no help for Stony on
the horizon, though. Mary Lou Martin is the girl of his dreams, and she
hardly knows Stony exists. In addition, Stony can't seem to stay out of
juvenile court and just may end up in reform school. A long, difficult
year stretches out in front of him when a new boy arrives in town.
Likeable bullshit artist Jack Newcomb dresses like Peter Gunn, uses
moves like Dobie Gillis, and plays pretty good jazz clarinet.
Jack draws Stony into his fantasy of being a private detective, and the
two boys start hanging around the county sheriff's office. Accepted as
sources of amusement and free labor, the aspiring gumshoes land their
first case after the district attorney's house is burglarized. Later,
the boys hatch an ingenious scheme to help the deputies raid an illegal
speakeasy and brothel. All the intrigue feels like fun and games to Jack
and Stony until a gunfight with a hillbilly boy almost gets them killed.
The stakes rise even higher when the boys find themselves facing off
against the Ku Klux Klan.
