Joseph Michael Ballista - "Joey Ballistic" to his mob buddies - knows most of the ways to make an illegal buck, and he's in trouble again. But his crafty lawyer is determined to free him by getting all his previous convictions set aside, beginning with one for attempted murder. She hires Detroit private detective Amos Walker to investigate the old crime. Walker's first problem? The intended victim was Barry Stackpole, his only true friend.

When a search for a fugitive embezzler leads Amos Walker to Cleveland, fellow visitor Emmett Yale, a leading figure in the electric-car industry in Detroit, hires the private detective to investigate the death of his stepson, Lloyd Lipton, in a random freeway shooting. Yale believes Clare Strickling, a former employee, arranged the killing to silence Lipton, who is suspected of selling illegal inside-trader information to Strickling. Walker shadows...

"The monkey in the middle is the one who "hears no evil." Private eye Amos Walker doesn't have that luxury. Hearing the truth, on the other hand, is a lot less common, even from people who need his help. It's summer in Detroit and Walker's just received word that his ex-wife has passed away. He can use a distraction, which arrives in the form of a young, would-be investigative journalist who has gotten in way over his head. He needs Walker's protection,...

"Amos Walker is hired by Helen and Dante Gunner, a bohemian Ann Arbor couple, to find Jerry Marcus, a film director who has disappeared with their investment money. It's one of Walker's easiest jobs to date. In just a few short hours, Walker locates Marcus in his bedroom...murdered, his body shoved into a cupboard, a bullet through his head. This case is opened and shut quickly, but Walker can't quite let it go. When Dante is arrested for the murder...