Fourteen-year-old Stephan swims like a fish and looks like a Michelangelo statue as he plays in the sea off the Lido di Venezia beach in Venice in 1924. As he stretches and dries off on the sand, he is ogled by expatriate American banker Jeremy Biddle, German doctor Reinhard Gleason, English patrician Sir Clarence Hailley, and French priest Father Franz. Each of the men aches in want for the boy and each of them has him--but at a price.
At fourteen, handsome, sunny, blue-eyed, and handful Ron is very much ahead of his times. He has already dabbled in trouble most don't contemplate before getting out of their teens, and he even has gotten familiar with alcohol. He is shipped off to an uncle in Singapore, but he hasn't finished learning life ahead of his time yet. In Singapore he finds his way to the House of Perfect Bliss and its procurer, Jun Lee.
Arthur's English tutor at Eton boys school on the Thames takes the fourteen-year-old boy out for a spin and a deflowering on the Thames river and uses poetry to get the boy's shorts off of him.
Randel is a 21-year-old man who has a grudge against all women. He’s a particularly nasty individual for a hero, which, of course, a hero he isn’t. However, in his mind, he is justified in his dreadful crimes. And, of course, as we all are, Randel is the hero of his own stories. In this outing, he seeks revenge on Alice for a perceived slight. A girl doesn't flirt with him, so he must rape her.
What would have happened if Hitler had been a little more lucky? What would life have been like in the UK under German occupation? Especially, what would have happened to the more attractive of the women? Most of the action takes place in 1947. Germany won the war. Belgium, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Spain are all part of Greater Germany and are effectively provinces. The UK is still occupied by the German army.
Mike is between cases and has a serious cash flow problem. He knew taking the case with the Jockey and his kinky wife was not smart but he didn't really have a choice. Once he found out the Westies and Three Finger Kelley were involved he should have thrown in the hand. Things happened and now it was personal. Personal to Mike meant nothing short of a final solution.