Spenser tracks down a young high school dropout who has run away from home to a life of prostitution.

The most dangerous man to cross is one who isn't afraid to die. But the most deadly is one who doesn't want to live. And Spenser has just lost the woman who made life his #1 priority. So when a religious sect kidnaps a pretty young dancer, no death threat can make Spenser cut and run. Now a hit man's bullet is wearing Spenser's name. But Boston's big boys don't know Spenser's ready and willing to meet death more than halfway.

Spenser searches for a prostitute who has disappeared while working for the man she loves, and finds himself in the world of high-class prostitutes and their wealthy clients.

Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he's run away -- until the comic strip ransom note arrives. It doesn't take Spenser long to get the picture -- an affluent family seething with rage, a desperate boy making strange friends...friends like Vic Harroway, body builder. Mr. Muscle is Spenser's only lead and he isn't talking...except with his fists....

Rachel Wallace is a tough young woman with a lot of enemies. Spenser is a tough guy with a macho code of honor, hired to protect a woman who thinks that kind of code is obsolete. Privately, they will never see eye to eye. But when Rachel vanishes, Spenser is ready to lay his life on the line--to find Rachel Wallace.

TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with...

Spenser, a hard-boiled Boston private eye, investigates when the leading college basketball forward appears to be shaving points.

Paul Giacomin enlists Spencer's help in localing his mother who has vanished. As they follow her trail, they are faced with a confrontation that may threaten their lives.

Spencer is hired by Loudon Tripp to find his wife's murderer. Tripp doesn't believe she was a victim of random violence.

Hawk, is off in Burma, leaving Spenser on his own when longtime pal Frank Belson of Boston Homicide needs help. Belson's beautiful young bride, Lisa St. Claire, has disappeared. When Belson is wounded in an ambush that may be related to Lisa's disappearance, Spenser undertakes the search.