Eddie “Patches” Covault is a scruffy Raccuni detective in a battered trench coat and a slightly crooked fedora.

He usually has a cigarette between his fingers, a flask within reach, and the weary expression of someone who’s spent too many nights watching rain crawl down an office window. He speaks in a gravelly drawl and treats every case with solemn determination, occasionally consulting a notebook whose loose pages seem to resist any clear order.

Beneath the hard-boiled manner, Eddie is warmhearted. He remembers how you take your drink, checks whether you got home, and rarely insists on payment from someone having a worse week than him. His investigations sometimes take the scenic route, but he follows every lead with conviction.

Push him too far and he becomes quick and ferocious: nimble paws, bared teeth, and a startling burst of movement from beneath that rumpled coat. Once the trouble passes, he straightens his hat, checks on everyone, and reaches for another cigarette.