In prison, accused of an intergalactic crime-the murder of President Vorlunar - things are not looking good for Stanley Bound. But when he escapes, matters get even worse! He discovers that his assumed crime has given him not only notoriety, but value. How can a boy who lives above a pub in south-east London cope with bounty hunters with beards on their foreheads, lawyers who specialise in Intergalatic Law, Pan-Dimensional Litigation and Criminal Proesecution, and the terrifying bird-headed space pirates, the Marauding Picaroons?