When private investigator Mike Hammer accompanies a conservative politician to Moscow on a fact-finding mission, he is arrested and imprisoned by the KGB on a bogus charge. He quickly escapes, creating an international incident by getting into a firefight with Russian agents. On his stateside return, the government is none too happy with Hammer. Russia is insisting upon his extradition, and various government agencies are following him. A question...

Discovering a body while strolling along the Hudson River at midnight, Mike Hammer determines the victim's identity to be the butler of a recently deceased millionaire, in a case that takes Hammer to upstate New York to investigate numerous family suspects.

"Hammer is summoned to a meeting with Jamie Winters, United States Senator from New York, and Jamie's lovely, very smart wife, Nicole, considered by many to be the power behind the throne. Winters is being blackmailed, and Hammer is given a list of suspects who may be behind the threats to the Senator's contemplated White House bid. But when the suspects begin to drop like flies, Hammer realizes there is more to this case than just a salacious tape....

"Mike Hammer is on the case, this time hunting the murderer of his old friend and bootlegger-turned-legit-businessman Packy Paragon. Already torn up buy the disappearance of Velda, his beloved secretary, Mike Hammer carves a brutal path for vengeance. Drinking heavily, his relationships fraying, his behaviour self-desctructive, Hammer has to track down Paragon's secret ledger, with the names of every corrupt official in town. With deception everywhere,...