"The Ax"
Burke Devore was downsized from his middle management position with a paper manufacturing company in Connecticut almost two years before. In his desperation to earn a living he has devised a novel approach to getting a leg up on the competition in the pursuit of a job in his field of expertise.
Devore has taken out ads in a trade publication for the type of position he is seeking and as the most qualified candidates respond with resumes he drives to their homes, sometimes several hours away in neighboring states, and kills them.
Devore is a married family man but lately his family has been victimized by his extended period of unemployment. His wife Marjorie announces she wants them to seek counseling for the extramarital affair she is having and their teenaged son Billy is arrested for burglarizing and stealing from a local computer software store.
As his whole world is spiraling out of control around him Devore methodically snuffs out his industry rivals and the current jobholder of his ideal position with Arcadia Paper, Upton ‘Ralph' Fallon. His method of killing varies (never with an ax despite the title) and though meticulously planned several of his crimes go awry.
He is visited by Detective Burton who is investigating the bizarre and seemingly random murders that have taken place in Connecticut with victims having an employment history in paper processing as their only connection. No link is made to the killings he has committed in New York or Massachusetts. Although riddled with guilt and remorse Devore carries out his plan to the end and anxiously awaits the call from Arcadia to fill their newly vacant position.
John Dortmunder's one of the slyest burglars going.
But by God, he has bad luck! While fleeing the police during his latest caper, he falls through the roof of the Silent Sisterhood of St. Filumena -- and tumbles into the lap of trouble.
It's an act of God, the sisters exclaim. Only the Creator himself could have sent this criminal just when they need him.
Sure, they'll shelter him from the cops. But there's a price: He must help them to retrieve their youngest and newest member from her father's clutches. This promises to get sticky. Dear old dad hates the Sisterhood like the plague. And he happens to have an odd hobby: putting together mercenary armies.
Why can't Dortmunder just catch a break?
