Joe's World Series by Eric Flint, Richard Roach

When Greyboar, a professional strangler, discovers the Supreme Philosophy of Life, he becomes a new man--but how can a villain in good standing pay the bills with his philosophical exploration getting in the way? Then Greyboar's long-lost sister asks him to help persecuted dwarves escape their human oppressors.

The young artist-swordsman Benvenuti has arrived in the city of Goimr to discover that Zulkeh, the evil sorcerer, has driven the King insane and subsequently fled the city. Then Benvenuti finds himself embroiled with a beautiful female revolutionary agitator and a gigantic madman.