The Perfect Crime #14

Detective Steve Duncan finds himself pulled away from his much-needed shore vacation when a woman named Martha begs for his help—her brother Tom is being released from ten years in Graterford Penitentiary, and Martha fears that two fellow ex-cons, Dutch Madden and Mike Larkin, plan to hunt him down and force him to reveal the location of $28,000 from a payroll job they all had a hand in a decade ago. As Duncan investigates the tangle of old crimes, hidden money, and dangerous men fresh out of prison, he discovers that ten years behind bars has changed Tom Ridley in ways no one expected—and that the real threat may come from an entirely different direction.

Two small-time hoods, Danny Welsh and Mel Werner, prepare to skip town—but before they go, they decide to stop by Nick Harmer's bar to unload a stolen item for quick cash. What they don't know is that someone close to them has already tipped off the police to their whereabouts, and time is running out before the law closes in.

Shorty Nolan, a rat informant despised by every crook in the underworld, stumbles onto a perfect opportunity for revenge—overhearing Bull Corsey and Ernie Turner plan to rob Harry Judson's real estate office. When Shorty tips off the police, he figures he'll finally get the respect he deserves while Bull takes the fall, but his scheme spirals into something far darker when a murder enters the mix. As the cops close in and the real criminals end up the perfect scapegoats, Shorty learns that even the cleverest plan can unravel when too many people are willing to kill for a share of the take.

C.O.D. Wilson works a slick con, posing as a deliveryman to collect cash on phony packages from unsuspecting housewives—until one victim catches wise to his scheme and calls him back to report the short change. When Wilson tries to flee, he finds himself cornered by police, and what should've been his perfect score turns into a two-to-five stretch behind bars, courtesy of the one mistake that undid him.