Originally published in 1992, this second entry in the Cooper MacLeish series finds Cooper living with his girlfriend Diana, content with his lot in life. But Diana has a past, and it comes back to bite her when Tommy Thorne, an ex-boyfriend, shows up wanting Diana's help in running a blackmail scheme on the publisher of a sleazy men's magazine. The porn tycoon is hiding something, and he's got some nasty employees to help him keep the lid on. All Cooper wants is to keep Diana out of it, but to do that he's going to have to get his hands dirty.

Sam Reaves has written seven Chicago-based crime novels. As Dominic Martell he has penned a European-based suspense trilogy. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.