The Bright Road to Fear — Richard Martin Stern

The Bright Road to Fear, first published in 1958, received the Edgar Award for best first novel for author Richard Martin Stern. The book describes an ambitious Italian crime syndicate and a young American who becomes involved in their shady dealings. Richard Stern would go on to write many suspense novels, notably The Tower (1973), which was made into a major motion picture. Stern died in 2001 at the age of 86.