Death is not an alibi. The dead really aren't that different from the rest of us. Some work honest jobs and pay rent on their host bodies every month, right on time. But some of them refuse to play by the rules. Police Exorcist Arphallo Sirus and his murdered partner, Sam Trent, hunt down the ghosts that break the laws of the living and the dead. The Dead Beat is a short-story serial. This volume contains stories 10 through 21: 10. "Dead Presidents" 11. "The Xavan-Carver Test" 12. "SureLife" 13. "Moonlighting" 14. "Spell It Out" 15. "Lefevre" 16. "The Light at the End of the Tunnel" 17. "Choices" 18. "Ashes" 19. "Flowers" 20. "Graveside" 21. "Rest in Peace"