Stu Carlson serves people drinks. Night after night, in the dry Texas heat, he stands behind the bar and listens to troubles and sorrows and worries and regrets—not too far off from his old position behind a pulpit. Doling out counsel and care, Stu’s a compassionate man. When the scotch he serves Andrew Washburn—Dean of Fine Arts and all-around asshole—turns out to have been poisoned, Stu is shaken. A regular at Stu’s bar, meek and talented Daniel Lackland, is arrested for the crime. It seems he had means and opportunity to spike the drink—and the most classic of motives. Two years earlier, Washburn stole Daniel’s wife. But Stu knows better. He believes in Daniel, believes in the power to of a man to move on after his wife leaves him. Hell, he has to—after all, Jocelyn left him, and he’s doing alright. Isn’t he? Stu’s plight to clear Daniel and find out the truth behind Washburn’s murder isn’t just about saving an innocent man from prison. Stu confronts his belief in himself, his loss of faith, and his realization that ministering to those in need can be done just as well with dishrag and beer tap at hand.
