From the critically acclaimed author of the best-selling Ryan DeMarco Mystery series comes this collection of crime novellas and stories, Randall Silvis's first collection since his The Luckiest Man in the World was awarded the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize by Joyce Carol Oates. These six short stories and the title novella-a Ryan DeMarco series prequel-brilliantly showcase the author's compelling storytelling coupled with the deep characterization and exquisite prose for which he is known. Murderers, grifters, and other unsavory characters people these stories, but so too do those struggling to make the world a kinder and less dangerous place. Praised by the New York Times Book Review as "a masterful storyteller," Silvis once again demonstrates that he can write short fiction as hypnotic as his novels, and with a distinctive and versatile voice that marks him as one of the best writers at work today.