When I pulled this off the shelf the other day for a PaperBack feature, I figured I might as well read it. After all, there are times when nothing will do but a private-eye novel from the old days, one that uses plenty of the conventions (I never call them clichés) that we know and love.This is a "one man against municipal corruption" book in the Red Harvest vein. Steve Cash is a private-eye who doesn't really want to get involved. But then he gets pushed around and beaten up, so he decides he's going to bring down the whole rotten system. Of course the fact that he has a paying client and a murder to investigate has something to do with it.
The plot is a little complicated, there's lots of shooting, and Cash takes a few more beatings. He does what he set out to do, but the ending's a bit more downbeat than you might expect. Solid stuff.
(Francis, full name William Francis Urell) also wrote as Curtis Lucas.)
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