Pressing the Bet — W.L. Ripley

What else could Cole Springer do? The cops said an old friend of his had been murdered in Las Vegas. So when the friend's father asked Springer to look into it, the ex-Secret Service agent had no choice but to return there, even though the local mob had warned him never to set foot in the town again. But the mob's only part of his problems. There are also dirty cops and one honest detective, the exotic Tara St. John, who will stop at nothing--even a romance with Springer--to find the killer and advance her career. The more Springer digs into the case, the harder the syndicate pushes him to butt out. But when anybody pushes Springer, he always pushes back.