What It Was

Washington, D.C., 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and
set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank "Hound
Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange
asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental
value, the case leads him onto Vaughn's turf, where a local drug
addict's been murdered, shot point-blank in his apartment. Soon both men
are on the trail of a ruthless killer: Red Fury, so called for his
looks and the car his girlfriend drives, but a name that fits his
personality all too well. Red Fury doesn't have a retirement plan, as
Vaughn points out - he doesn't care who he has to cross, or kill, to get
what he wants. As the violence escalates and the stakes get higher,
Strange and Vaughn know the only way to catch their man is to do it
their own way.Rich with details of place and time - the cars,
the music, the clothes - and fueled by non-stop action, this is
Pelecanos writing in the hard-boiled noir style that won him his
earliest fans and placed him firmly in the ranks of the top crime
writers in America.