The Goody Railhead series begins with a buzz. In the near future crime runs its usual course, poodles are bioengineered into secretaries, avatars are as common as murder and some of the dead (the more annoying types) stick around past their expiration date. Mr. M of 35th Street, NYC, has dealt with many intriguing cases in his long investigative career, but his latest hits close to home when one of his employees is dismembered only three houses down from his famous brownstone. Mr. M might be an alien, or resident alien or illegal immigrant from Eastern Europe, but without doubt he is the consummate private detective. Feared and utilized by the rich, a powerful annoyance to the New York City Police Department, he is regarded by all as someone who cannot be ignored and put aside. Alongside his factotum, Goody Railhead, he forges into a morass of death and deception. If he doesn't solve the murder of Al Flagstone, his world will be ripped open to public view—his worst nightmare. And with consequences that might prove disastrous to the Big Apple.
Goody Railhead is back on the job when M sends him into an alternate reality to track down a possible murderess. Arcadia Permanente has created ‘time shards’ in which a person can pay to live out their ‘best day’ over and over while their real selves continue their humdrum life. Inspector Donardo has convinced a former employee of the company to hack into the best day of Alice MacGuffin, who is suspected of pushing her husband off the terrace at High Toss Tower. He is forbidden by law from trespassing into Echoland (popularly known as Dreamland) but he is desperate for clues. He hires M to bypass legal niceties. With the K-9 assistance of an AI-enhanced poodle, Scripto, M sends Goody across the Echobridge to spy on Alice. What he finds in her 'best day’ is something none of them anticipated.