In prohibition-era America, political fixer Ned Beaumont finds his loyalty tested when his boss, the corrupt city ward-heeler Paul Madvig, is accused of murdering a senator’s son. Beaumont is a gambler and an enigma who operates in the grey spaces between organized crime and city hall. While Madvig prioritizes his romantic pursuit of the senator’s daughter, Beaumont sifts through blackmail schemes and brutal beatings to uncover the truth. The narrative focuses on the internal mechanics of a municipal political machine and the shifting alliances between gangsters, district attorneys, and local newspapers.
This book serves readers who prefer a cold, objective style of storytelling where character motivations are revealed through outward actions rather than internal monologues. It appeals to those interested in the unsentimental portrayal of urban corruption and the pragmatic ethics of the criminal underworld. The reader walks away with a cynical understanding of how political power is maintained through debt and intimidation. It provides a blueprint for the hardboiled detective genre, emphasizing a world where personal loyalty is the only remaining currency in a system built on graft.
- Published
- 1931
- Language
- EN
