Nick Carter is a fictional detective who first appeared in 1886 in dime store novels. Over the years, different authors, all taking the nom de plume Nicholas Carter, have penned stories featuring "America's greatest detective". Nick is customarily to be found among the rich and powerful but in this latest offering, he is to be found with his three assistants sitting around a makeshift campfire made of railroad tires. "These four men were about as rough-looking specimens of humanity as can be imagined." Is Nick down on his luck? Or is it just another case?