Don Winslow of the Navy #50

When the S.S. Corinthian hits a reef and sinks under mysterious circumstances, Don Winslow and his Coast Guard crew discover that the lighthouse beam—which should have warned the ship—has gone dark, and the lighthouse keeper lies dead. Don suspects the two smugglers who vanished during the evacuation engineered the disaster to escape custody, and he races to track them down before they slip away for good. With Red in danger back at the lighthouse and the criminals closing in, Don must use his wits and seamanship to turn the tables and bring the fugitives to justice.

When Jetsam Joe hires a crew to help load the captain's ship while he's away visiting his sister, a simple misunderstanding turns into a financial disaster—Joe interprets the captain's request for workers "over 21" by hiring twenty-two men instead of one or two. The captain returns from his two-week trip to find the ship swarming with idle workers who demand their full pay, leaving his profits completely drained.

Bell Bottom Bill gets a kick out of reading about animal trainers and their dangerous work—so naturally, he's confident he could handle a wild beast if one ever broke loose. When pressed on his strategy, Bill reveals his foolproof plan with a groan-worthy pun that'll make you smile despite yourself.

A perpetually unlucky sailor bemoans his string of misfortunes to sympathetic listeners, each tale of bad luck more absurd than the last—from nearly starving because he lacks a can opener to narrowly avoiding every conceivable disaster. This humorous vignette captures the comedic woes of a man convinced that fate itself has turned against him, delivered with the wry wit that made the Don Winslow series a wartime favorite.

Don Winslow and a fellow officer must track down the Snake, a cunning dope smuggler with an uncanny ability to slip through the tightest spaces, before he strikes again in the city. When the fugitive makes contact with his henchman Big Ears Larsen to maintain his criminal operation, Winslow closes in—but the Snake's physical talents and ruthlessness make him far more dangerous than a typical wanted man. Can Navy Intelligence corner a criminal who seems to vanish into thin air?