Extortion

Glenn Bowman, the toughest and most cynical private investigator in New York, lands himself up to the chin in trouble by witnessing the disposal of a gravely injured man. Bowman plays it straight, calls the police, and finds he is caught between two fires. The law takes a mean view of private operators in general and Bowman in particular; the Opposition, running a large-scale extortion racket, realise that he knows too much. "Either they get you,” says the man who hires him, "or they go out of business. You know which they'll choose.”

With Extortion, first published in 1960, Hartley Howard and Glenn Bowman add another outstanding thriller to their long list of successes.