The Short Night — Ed Lacy

A mini-masterpiece...this book is really something special, Paperback WarriorIt's 1957. Lester Red Dolsan is a former first baseman, now a talent scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who is haunted by the suicide of his alcoholic wife...and the discovery that he may have fathered a child in a one-night stand with a lonely, concentration camp survivor with a fake name. His search for the child, and his former lover, leads him into a nightmare of crime, violence and betrayal, with a fortune hanging in the balance.Turner spins this out neatly, peopling it with bit players who come alive on the page [including] one of the most engaging, mysterious ladies I've ever come across in crime fiction. Dan Stumpf, Mystery FileLacy is an awesome writer, and his dialogue is among the best of that era. Dolsan is a tough, hardboiled knight-errant with a heart of gold. You'll really enjoy spending time with this character. In fact, all the characters are vividly-drawn and endlessly-interesting. Paperback Warrior Taut, sexy. Combines elements of Spillane and Erle Stanley Gardner. People TodayRussell Turner was a pseudonym for Leonard S. Zinberg (1911-1968), best known for his work written as Ed Lacy.