New Zealand. A great place to bring up kids? Or a darker world, where money is being made, people are being hurt, where illegal gambling and slygrogging are the norm? Eight-year-old Denis Edward is in the middle, observing events swirling around him. He doesn't care. There are more important things on his mind. Alliances have to be made. There are persecutions to be organised. And coming straight down the calendar at him is a showdown. It's a tough time for a Miramar Dog.

In this rich, often hilarious memoir, Denis Edwards dwells with affection on the hard-case humour, the scams and the childhood intrigues that made up daily life in the Wellington suburb of Miramar in the 1950s.