Gambler, rogue, and con-artiste, Lando Calrissian was born with a well-developed taste for the good life. More comfortable at the dealer's end of a fast shuffle than at the rear end of a blaster, Lando always had his sensors scanning for the chance to pick up easy credits. So when he heard that the planets of the Rafa System were practically buried in ancient alien treasure, he hopped aboard the Millennium Falcon and brushed up on his rusty astrogation. He never stopped to think that someone might be conning the con man!

Whitey O’Thraight, the Ship’s Armorer on the first interstellar vessel launched by his home planet Vespucci, finds himself stranded on a strange planet with just one other survivor. Captured by the local Baron, they are freed by a group of monks who are much more than they initially appear to be. Their new benefactors and friends have something special in mind for the two survivors, but going along with these plans might mean the destruction of Vespucci as they knew it. Another breath-taking adventure by the author of the award winning "Pallas" and "The Probability Broach."

Some thing flashed and a great roar deafened the audience. When the smoke and green-tinged vapor cleared, a lamviin alien - what was left of it, anyway - lay dead before the horrified gaze of several hundred eyewitnesses. Responsibility for solving the crime lay squarely on the three shoulders of Bucketeer-Inquirer Mav. But the windowless rokm had been locked, no one saw the killer, and the murder weapon itself was a mystery.

Deadly pursuit! A solar system with little more than luxury hotels catering to the underemployed filthy-rich, the Oseon was every gambler's dream come true. And so it was for Lando Calrissian, gambler, rogue, & con-artiste. Until he broke the gambler's cardinal rule: never beat a cop at high-stakes games of chance. Soon Lando & his feckless five-armed robot companion were being stalked by two enemies -- one they knew but could not see, & one they saw but did not recognize . . . until it was too late.