A newly released convict starts terrorizing the woman who witnessed against him. She goes to McCabe for help, who was prosecutor who put him in jail.
Ed Delaney, an ex-cop and an old friend of McCabe, is killed when he comes close to solving ""The Lady in Red"" Murder - a 20-year-old unsolved murder case that got him fired from the police.
Jake and Stg. Danoho (a LAPD cop) are transporting a prisoner to Los Angeles, when the prisoner escapes and Danoho is killed. Danoho's partner, Sgt. Walker, goes to Hawaii to assist in the investigation and it turns out there's bad blood between her and Jake.
A young lady is acquitted for killing her mother, and wants to hire Jake privately to find the killer. Jake turns it down because he's on his way to a vacation, but then McCabe refuses to let him take any days off. So Jake quits his job and takes the assignment.
A cat burglar robs a hotel while McCabe is hosting a district attorney convention there. The immediate suspect is Harry McGuinn, a recently released cat burglar. He insists that he is innocent, and tries to help Jake solve the robbery.
Derek gets his first case - a drunk driver who assaulted a police officer. But the driver is a powerful man, and suddenly Derek's main witness lies and the judge dismisses the case.
Jake and the FBI go after Victor Potemkin, a suspected drug smuggler. But when they raid his house they find no drugs, but Jake finds someone he knows - a woman who disappeared overnight just as he was about to propose to her.
An unknown girl washes up on a beach murdered, and a friend of McCabe, the newspaper columnist Leilani Simons, takes an unusual interest in the case.
Jake helps out the actor, Tom Cody, who played his childhood idol - the Skyhawk. Tom has been reduced to an alcoholized, broke veteran plane pilot, and no one believes him when he witnesses a murder.
Judge Smithwood starts receiving death threats after sentencing a young man to 20 years for rape. And a mysterious man in an army captain uniform steals a high precision sniper rifle from a local military base.
It's Christmas, and pregnant young lady is on the run from two mobsters. Gertrude makes a surprise visit to McCabe, and helps with the Christmas celebration.
Derek gets Jake to look into things, when the sister of a good friend is arrested for possession of drugs. She says they were planted by her mother-in-law, who is angry with her son for trying to take control of the family company, and at her for marrying him.
After several failed raids on mafia boss Everett Ashford, it appears the PA's office has a leak. Evidence starts to point to Leigh Perry, a rising star in the PA's office and the head of the organized crime division.
Derek collides with a pedestrian on his way home from a beach party. When the man dies, Derek is charged with manslaughter.
Nick Voss, a wanted criminal whose brother is about to be executed, kidnaps McCabe. Voss demands that his brother is released, or McCabe will share the same fate.
Jake travels to Los Angeles to attend his sister's wedding. The groom has a shady past, but he swears it's all behind him. But then, why is he working for a local gangster?
Jake catches a young girl picking his pocket. He tries to help her home, but she is very uncooperative. Meanwhile McCabe has problems with a murdered money counterfeiter.
A rapist is loose, attacking single women in their homes. Meanwhile McCabe takes Max to the ""Happy Dogs"" class.
A woman disappears when looking into her mother's death at a health resort. Jake and LA cop Karen Stetson go undercover at the resort, posing as a married couple.
Jake is undercover on a plane transporting drugs, when his real identity is discovered. The pilot fatally wounds him, and jump out with the only parachute. From the control tower McCabe tries to keep Jake conscious by talking about their previous adventures while the plane flies toward the airport.
Jake gets a visit from an old classmate with a heavy obligation - he must kill Jake Styles.
McCabe prosecutes a man for murdering his wife, when the man's story about them being assaulted by gang members doesn't check out.
Dr. Carmichael is charged with murdering his wife, but is given an alibi by her secretary. McCabe smells a rat and sends Jake undercover - getting a job as Carmichael's chauffeur.
Jake and Derek negotiates with a slightly paranoid man who has evidence against a crocked oil company, while McCabe gets a visit from a young woman claiming to be his daughter.
When a gang marks him for death, Daniel joins a group about to escape from the prison. To insure his cooperation the escapees frame him for murder.
Jake investigates the murder of a journalist working in Chinatown. He gets help from Chinatown cop Tommy Min Tang, the son of the local godfather.