Steve Bradford has a good job, a loving wife and a precious daughter, but he dreams of life in Venezuela with another woman. Actor Nick O'Connor allows himself the luxury of a little hope, cast in a production with the famous Ramona Ricci. But there are new responsibilities too, as he and his wife, statistician Maggie Ryan, are adjusting to life with a baby daughter of their own. Then Ramona is shot, and Steve puts Maggie at the heart of a dangerous deception. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the fifth novel in the Maggie Ryan series.

Graduate student Monica Bauer is working in a lab where a new drug to treat brain tumors is being tested. She is also visiting a young man who was shot in the head in Vietnam, searching for ways to connect with him. When lab rats are slaughtered and the custodian is murdered, statistician Maggie Ryan teams up with actor Nick O'Connor to hunt down the killer, as both Monica and Maggie struggle to deal with the men in their lives.

Realtor Len Trager is anxious to sell the brownstone in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, but prospective buyers don't want to deal with Julia Northrup, who rents the basement apartment. Maggie Ryan and her husband Nick O'Connor love the property. They see though Julia's act, and they're not scared off by the corpse on the top floor. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the fourth novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1989 nominee for Macavity and Anthony Awards.