A friend's disappearance sends Mike Shayne to the Caribbean Timothy Rourke made his name as a Miami crime reporter, but he never knew true evil until he came to the Caribbean. In a corrupt tropical country, where beatings and murders pass for ordinary politics, a student group begs him to report the truth about the dictatorship. Rourke has never been one to refuse a story—or a beautiful blonde—but he soon discovers that the men who run this country are experts in more than hiding the truth; they also know how to make a reporter disappear. When Rourke's investigations get the best of him, it falls to Mike Shayne to save his life. As revolution simmers under the tropical sun, Shayne takes on the worst the dictatorship has to offer. The officials may be ruthless killers, but they have never met the likes of Shayne.

A beachside slaying threatens to put Mike Shayne behind bars No one at the hotel gives a damn about Walter Carson. There aren't any letters for him at the front desk or calls at reception. Bellboys, waiters, and bartenders all ignore him. When he reaches out to strangers, they look away. He's alone in the world—and worse, he's gripped by an icy terror that follows him everywhere. One night, it catches up to him. Carson, unloved and unknown, is found dead with a bullet between his eyes. In the dead man's pocket, the police find a newspaper clipping about Mike Shayne, Miami's toughest private investigator. The local chief is convinced Shayne was connected to the murder, and he will do whatever is necessary to put the detective behind bars. Shayne can handle the cops—it's Carson's widow that he needs to worry about.

A blonde with a rotten husband sends Mike Shayne into the past Mike Shayne isn't scared of anyone, but that doesn't mean he feels comfortable in a tuxedo. He squeezes into the monkey suit for the sake of Lucy Hamilton, his beloved secretary, and grins and bears his way through a meal at the ultra-posh Martinique. The detective is just settling into the evening when he sees a woman who stops his blood cold: Lydia Kane, a friend of his late wife. She's polite, but her eyes show mortal terror. The reunion is soon broken up by Lydia's husband, a squat thug who explodes at Shayne for talking to his wife. The men exchange harsh words, then swift punches, which causes Shayne and Lucy to be kicked out of Martinique. When Lydia is murdered soon after, Shayne suspects her husband is the killer. But how can the detective prove it when the police are hot on his own trail?

When two prize cattle are slain, the sheriff of Powder Valley is called to a freezing, violent town It's bitterly cold in the Rockies when the locomotive reaches the end of the line. Only one passenger alights from the caboose: Nate Morris, a lean private detective with an easy grin and icy eyes. Sanctuary Flat is a grim little town, alone in the mountains and cut off from the world. The only business there is cattle breeding, and business is rotten. Two prize cattle have been killed, and the owners have hired Morris to find out what happened. When Morris is found with a knife in his throat, the men who run Sanctuary Flat call on the only men tough enough to tame this wild ranching town. Pat Stevens, sheriff of Powder Valley, and his sidekicks, Sam and Ezra, have faced death dozens of times. But nothing can prepare them for the evil corruption at the heart of Sanctuary Flat.