Realizing his life's ambition, Ben opens his own crap game set up in his home town. All runs smoothly till Ben finds himself in the clutches of the big-time operators who don't take kindly to infringement. Suspenseful and well-written.--Los Angeles Times.

Chief of homicide Sam Birge pursues the killer of a young would-be writer found dead in the hallway of an old apartment building which houses a cafe-restaurant and artists' studios

Detective Sam Birge investigates a strangely unnecessary murder at a Midwestern resort and gradually unravels a many-layered tragedy