Shadow Ticket begins in Milwaukee in the 1930s. At this time, gang wars are drifting into the city from Chicago, Al Capone has been arrested, Prohibition is about to be repealed, and anyone needing to escape the chaos heads to Milwaukee, where “it seldom gets more serious than somebody stole somebody’s fish” (1).

Hicks McTaggart is a private investigator for the Unamalgamated Ops (U-Ops) detective agency. While loitering around town, he hears a large explosion. Hicks, perpetually short of cash, makes inquiries about the blast, but few people seem surprised. At the U-Ops office, Hicks’s boss, Boynt Crosstown, is waiting for him. Thessalie Wayward, a former vaudeville mentalist, is also present. Boynt and Thessalie introduce Hicks to the latest case: Daphne Airmont, daughter of the so-called “Al Capone of Cheese” (3) Bruno Airmont, has run away with Hop Wingdale, a clarinetist for the swing band The Klezmopolitans. Bruno wants U-Ops to bring Daphne home, a job which could be made easier because Hicks has “some history” (3) with Daphne. He denies that their brief romance was anything serious and declines the case. He suggests instead that they assign the case to his energetic young colleague, Zbig Dubinsky.