Who or What is The Battered Butterfly? What do you get if you cross Mike Hammer with Ignatius Reilly? Meet Lefty Markowitz! Lefty, an ex-New York cop turned professional gambler, is two hundred and eighty pounds of misanthropy on the prowl in Manila. All he wants is to be left alone. But when a bar girl is murdered Lefty becomes the prime suspect, and everyone is after him. Pursued by Chinese triads, Japanese Yakuza, a Filipino sparrow squad, a corrupt senator and his bodyguards, an overeager reporter, and a psychotic police captain, Lefty must find the real killer before his pursuers find him. Aided by his girlfriend Hyacinth Chin and her protégé, Gladiola Laboong, Lefty explores the places the Bureau of Tourism leaves off its maps. He'll look for the killer, but all he really wants to find is a decent slice of pizza.