When a childhood friend is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins according to the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous, Matthew Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to derail his own sobriety.

The daytime bookseller and nighttime burglar, Bernie Rhodenbarr of New York is hired to steal a packet of letters someone wants destroyed. Instead, he finds a dead man and now he must clear his name.

When he is framed for a high-profile murder that he did not commit, contract hit man John Keller flees for his life and becomes increasingly suspicious about his handler's ominous unresponsiveness.

Like any job, murder for hire has its ups and downs. Keller's assignments do allow him access to all sorts of sporting events--he get to follow baseball when he takes out a philandering player, and to the races when a jockey in a fixed horse race is the target. He even gets to mix his passion for stamp collecting with a hit on a famous philatelist. Wisely, Keller never accepts jobs in his home, New York City. But when a plum job makes him break his...

Master theif Evan Tanner is given an assignment in Canada.