David Winn

Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason uses the fictional Atlanta design firm of Sugarbaker and Associates as a witty bully pulpit for caustic social and political humor. The founder of the company is Julia Sugarbaker, a sharp-tongued but elegant and surprisingly compassionate woman. Her younger sister, Suzanne, is a former beauty queen who is long on charm but a bit slow on the uptake. Their associates are Mary Jo Shively, a recent divorcee, and officer manager Charlene Frazier, whose sweetness is matched only by her naivete. Their deliverman is Anthony Bouvier, a well-spoken ex-convict, and cheerfully dotty senior citizen Bernice Clifton often drops by for a visit as well.

Bill is assigned to locate a missing circus clown. Ralph is recruited to infiltrate the circus as a human cannonball act.

Velda's brother, Gary Adams, returns from Europe with a jade necklace as a present for Velda. However, he is murdered later that night by what appears to be a man wearing a cat mask. The clues point to his work as a designer in the fur trade but there seems to be no motive. Further investigation points to smuggling and Chinatown, and the necklace seems to be at the centre of it.

Hammer finds an abandoned baby boy that is struggling to live, addicted to heroin. Searching for the boy's mother, Hammer finds her overdosed on heroin and strychnine. Who killed her, who's the boy's father and why did she really die?