Gangsters Can't Win #9

Jink Shields, ace newspaper columnist, is sent on what seems like a suicide mission to confront ex-gangster Jake Moroni—but when a bomb goes off at a bridge and murder strikes at his boss's estate, Shields discovers the real threat isn't from Moroni at all. A mystery blooms from an unexpected source as a dahlia becomes the key to unmasking a killer with very different motives than anyone suspected.

What starts as a quiet Caribbean vacation for publicity director Biff Williams turns explosive when he stumbles onto a stowaway hidden aboard the Argosy—and uncovers a dangerous web involving a former jailed criminal, his determined daughter, and ruthless men hunting for stolen loot from a decade-old bank heist. With killers closing in and everyone's survival hanging in the balance, Williams must use his wits and resourcefulness to outmaneuver the criminals before the ship becomes a floating deathtrap.

Whitney Darrell's extravagant wife Thelma pressures him to eliminate his business partner Chris Murrow so he can take control of Acme Aircraft alone, and despite his reluctance, Darrell hatches what seems like an airtight murder plan. But when he reports the killing to state police as a tragic accident, a sharp-eyed detective notices a crucial detail that the murderer overlooked—and it's enough to unravel the entire scheme.

When a young man named Tod Smith dismisses a gypsy's warning about the danger of signs, he doesn't realize how the prophecy will transform him—he quits his job and turns to crime, convinced that people's blind obedience to signs is the perfect tool for his schemes. Using forged and switched signs to pull off increasingly brazen heists, from robberies to yacht hijackings, Tod builds a criminal empire with no regard for the very warnings that surround him. But as his ambitions grow and his crew warns of approaching storms, Tod's scorn for all "signs" may prove to be his fatal flaw.