The Brass Cupcake

Rating:
Summary: Great 1950 Pulp Detective Story!
Review: Cliff Bartells comes back from WWII (the Big War!) to find his little Florida gulf coast city has been taken over by the Mob. Of course, he won't play along and ends up on the outside, that is until a rich tourist is murdered for her jewels and Cliff's company is left holding the bag for a $750,000 insurance claim. Ckiff has to play a dangerous game to recover the jewles, earn a huge bonus and win the woman of his dreams.

This was JDM's first published novel (I think) and a good example of the hard boiled detective genre. It's a quick read and well worth finding in the used book store. JDM uses a lot of ideas here that get further development in his Travis McGee novels.