Punching Dixon had gotten Jake Spinner thrown in jail, but now that he's out all he wants is a fresh start back on his farm. Suddenly Dixon is dead and Spinner is on the run, escaping town in the getaway car with Dixon's assassin in the back seat! He knows the cops won't believe his innocence. He knows his only chance is to keep the cold, clubfooted little killer known as Loma with him. Because Loma is his ticket to a new life. His respectable life shattered, Spinner figures the only ones who'll take him in now are the guys who hired Loma. The choice is easy - until he meets Ann.

Jimmy Gallivan is only three-and-a-half weeks from his prison release for trying to kill his wife's lover seven years ago. But fellow-inmate Rand has other plans for Gallivan. A break-out is engineered, and now they're hiding out in a sanitarium. But the whole set-up seems suspicious. Rand's boss wants Gallivan to help him with his drug operation. But is that all there is to it? Because it begins to seem like the whole escape was engineered just for him. And what about Jesse? Where does she figure in all of this? Is she the bait - or has she become Gallivan's new jailor?

Charley has a sweet set-up in Naples. He and his partner Joe Lenken run a tight black-market operation. But tonight there is trouble and Charley is shot - and worse, he is recognized. Fleeing the police, he has to get his hands on a passport fast. Luck is with him in the form of a dead American drunk. All Charley has to do is get rid of the body. Weighting it, he lowers the body into the Tiber, his body wracked with pain from the bullet wound. But his luck runs out - he is seen! She is standing on the bridge overhead. But instead of crying "murder" she helps him up the bank and takes him away to tend to his wounds. But is she Charley's guardian angel - or the sweet angel of death?

Marvin Palaver dies at the worst possible moment in life, just when he is coming out even with his nemesis, fellow scrap seller Sidney Minsk. He is so close. The contract is signed and Sydney has just bought back his own scrap, the deal of a lifetime. Marve knows happiness supreme. But as the tears of joy make his eyes swim, there comes a bump in his chest, and he is dead before he hits the floor. But death doesn't stop Marvin. His masterful schwindel must be complete. So Marve finagles his way back to the material plane for a bit of artful ghosting. Sidney has hidden the contract away, confident that he's the only one who knows about it. All Marve needs to do is get him to reveal it - he should live so long!

Brock Callahan doesn't have many fans left from his glory days on the gridiron. As a matter of fact, Warren Temple Lund III may be the last one. So how can Callahan refuse his request for help? It doesn't matter that Warren is not quite twelve with assets totaling thirty-two dollars.Callahan may have a soft spot for kids, but when he sets out to find his client's missing father, things get nasty indeed. Nobody—not the local police, the rich mother, nor her live-in-love—wants Callahan mixing in. And if he doesn't watch his step, Callahan may find himself in a county morgue with a tag tied to his big toe . . .