Why would an alcoholic Chicago homicide detective question the motives of a drummer from a freshly signed rock-blues band? Why does he keep interviewing an elderly widower with dementia? What are an identity-concealing stripper, a bisexual kleptomaniac, a suicidal hot dog cart vendor, a Catholic priest, a well-traveled bluesman with the world's most horrific stutter, and a leggy bartender with a crescent-shaped scar on her pretty face hiding from him? These are the people Detective Carter Woodbine must drink in to solve the mystery in Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. The gumshoe searches for answers at an Irish pub where he sifts through the grit of its patrons and occasionally finding flecks of gold. Among his digging for truths, he unearths enigmas buried deeply within the soil of these people of interest, and even some of his own. But will all the digging and dirt lead to somewhere other than his own grave? Mrs. O'Leary's Cow is much more than a detective quest; it's a reflection of the great city of Chicago and its people during the two days leading up to Christmas.