A hitchiker falls in love with a cafe waitress. Together they murder her husband and then their troubles begin.

Contains three novels and five short stories by American author James M. Cain, including "The Postman Always Rings Twice" about a drifter who embarks on a course of destruction when he falls for the wife of Nick, the genial owner of a roadside cafe.

A married woman having an affair with a drifter plots to kill her husband; Philip Marlowe is hired to investigate several mysteries surrounding the Sternwood family; a murder plot goes awry when the wrong person is killed; greed and deception surround the search for a valuable and rare statue.