The Deal and The Descent are Volumes 3 and 4 of the four-part series: The Charlie Cooke Saga. It is a film-noir-style-hard-boiled-detective-fiction-crime-drama. Our hero, Charlie Cooke, is a gritty detective who strives to find veracity in a crooked city. Throughout parts 3 and 4, he struggles with dames, deals, deaths, Deuces, and other delusional dilemmas that start with the letter "D". Periodically, he conveys these conflicts through narration, often using ridiculous metaphors and irrelevant similes. The Deal and the Descent is a stylistic, and often cliché ridden, look at an era where the thin lines between right and wrong were easily rubbed-out.

Charlie Cooke is The Hero. A hard-boiled, conflicted detective with a heart of lead.

Jack McCormick is The Boss. A stressed Irish police chief with drinking and marital problems.

Vinnie Videcci is The Villain. An overweight, influential mobster with a shrewd sense of humor.....

Trixie Harmon is The Femme Fatale. A rarely distressed damsel with a classy attitude and legs to boot.

"Deuces" is The Crony. A shady criminal with a devil-may-care attitude and a butterfly knife he flips subconsciously.

Robert "Bobby" Roberts is The Kid. A respectable young cadet with a heart of gold. His late father was Charlie's partner.

Frangela "Frannie" Burkowsky is The Sweetheart. A trendy young waitress with a soft spot for detectives.

Rudy is The Patron. A scruffy customer at the diner.

And The Thug. A silent henchman who shadows Vinnie.