Included here are eight short stories of drama, comedy, adventure, and a memoir. The two mystery novelettes are The Great Pearl Alley Caper and The Girl Next Door. The short stories include a wannabe beatnik/hippie/punk, a frustrated writer, a lovesick coworker, a remembrance of childhood, and a peace-seeking individual in a not-too-peaceful situation. In the two novelette's, wine bars and bistros are meeting places for heroes and villains, for the working man and bum, for loves won and lost, and for rising body counts.