Prequel to the Joe Grey mystery stories.

"To the devil, the span of a human life is as brief as spit on the wind. But the challenge of playing with flawed humans, like a cat toying with a mouse, is endlessly amusing. If the devil loses a wager, though, he will harass a person's descendants until he eventually gets his due--which is why he is tormenting Lee Fontana. The night before Lee, a train robber, is paroled from jail, Satan terrifies and tempts him with the promise of one more successful heist. As Lee goes on, struggling to live an honest life working on a farm in Southern California with old friends, opportunities to get rich quick seem to appear at every turn and the temptation becomes too much to bear. But Lee has a secret ally looking out for him. The prison cat Misto, a yellow-tabby ghost, will tail the ex-con on his dangerous mission--an adventure that will leave a long legacy for everyone's favorite sleuthing cat, Joe Grey, and his pals in the charming California coastal town of Molena Point"--