"Ben Perkins is back! It feels so good to say that. Twenty-three years ago, when Rob Kantner introduced his Detroit PI in the short story "C Is for Cookie," he probably had no idea he was heralding in a new era of mystery fiction. Before Rob, the private eye genre was glutted with down-in-their-luck losers who wore trench coats and talked like Bogart. Stereotypes ruled the paperback racks, and a revamp was sorely needed. Rob's genius was to give his hero something more than clichéd one-liners and a drinking problem. Namely, a life." J. A. Konrath, from his introduction This collection includes 18 stories featuring Ben Perkins, from the earliest part of his career to the latest chapter. The final story, "Sex and Violins" has never before been published.