Publisher's Synopsis
Vaughan Roberts and his two companions had been trappedon a crime-ridden, chaotic planet until they bamboozled the population with agigantic hoax-which brought them to the attention of the Interstellar Patrol,who were looking for a few good con men, capable of ingenious improvisation andadept at playing dirty tricks on the bad guys. The new recruits acquittedthemselves admirably, so they naturally were given more tough nuts to crack,including:
- Flummoxing an alien empire which has taken a number ofhuman prisoners to gather information prior to an invasion. This has a personalaspect, since the prisoners are from the planet which Roberts tricked intoreforming . . .
- Stopping a plan by not-so-good Samaritans who arepretending to cure a planetary plague-which they introduced to the planet-with a"miracle" drug which creates an addiction to the same drug, whichthe schemers will be glad to continue supplying for ever-increasing sums . . .
- Making sure that the rightful heir to a planet's throneescapes from captivity and overthrows the usurper. This time there's acomplication: Roberts may be falling for the heir's beautiful sister. . . .
And much more, including such lethalalien wildlife as banjo birds with rapier-like beaks, alien caterpillars withflaming dragonlike exhalations, and a cast of thousands of biting, stinging,bloodsucking insects from a host of colony worlds who think humans are thetastiest things they've ever come across.
