Spenser, a Boston private investigator, helps his sidekick Hawk recover after Hawk is shot and left for dead while protecting bookie Luther Gillespie. With health restored, the two set out to infiltrate the Ukrainian mob controlling the city of Marshport, in a complicated plan of vengeance.

Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro try to protect the son of a prominent psychiatrist in the midst of an ever-growing body count and a list of clues that point impossibly to a serial killer who has been in prison for twenty years.

When one of Patrick Kenzie's former clients commits suicide, he takes it upon himself to investigate her suspicious death, and in the process he finds himself facing a mentally unstable killer who convinces his victims they would rather die than continue living.

Spencer and his cohort Hawk investigate a murder in the housing projects of Boston and are drawn into a world of violence and hate.

On the outs with her secretive mob boss lover, Sam Gianelli, Carlotta occupies herself with a seemingly routine case. She feels an immediate bond with her new client, Jessie Franklin. Right now, both women are dealing with issues of trust. For Jessie, it's the man she's soon to marry. Tipped off that he's cheating on her, she wants Carlotta to tail him. No sooner does Carlotta get a track on the likely cad, than Jessie is killed by a hit-and-run driver....

"Spenser takes up a seemingly open and closed cold case at the behest of a street-wise 16 year old girl, who believes her mother's murderers went free. As Spenser digs deeper into the mystery, he finds a much more dangerous and complex mystery than he bargained for"--

Boston's largest urban renewal undertaking in modern history draws Carlotta into an undercover gig at the site. It comes at the request of a disgruntled hardhat who suspects the multibillion-dollar project has set off a groundswell of graft, kickbacks, and fraud. The case hasn't unearthed anything but dirt, so Carlotta is tempted into moonlighting on another: a Beacon Street socialite who's deeply concerned about her vanishing tenant, a dog groomer...