Invidious comparison is the phrase most often on Fatman's mind in Know the Time. His partner, Doris, has inherited mogul-level wealth from her former lover, the philanthropist and weasling lawyer, Duke Black. She's owns Duke's robber-baron era mansion, which comes complete with servants, groundskeepers, a chef and more. Fatman cannot set himself at ease in the house, or with his sudden dependence on Doris's largesse.

The always scheming Duke offers Fatman an opportunity to build his own empire. He reveals that the dead have access to the exact life span of the world's inhabitants. They can tell you the day, hour and minute of anyone's death. The living will line up — and at handsome prices — to possess this information and to act upon it. Or so Duke contends.

Fatman, desparate, disregards his better judgment and throws in with Duke and the actuaries of the underworld. Money arrives by the wheelbarrow. Inevitably, so does trouble in its many forms.