The Last Good Kiss (C.W. Sughrue, #1)

Before Crumley began believing his own publicity releases, he was a real contender, and could have been a worthy successor to Hammett, Chandler and MacDonald. At this point he was flexing his writing muscles and they are considerable. Gritty, funny, hard-edged and violent. A blast of a novel, and probably an influence on some more well-known ones, including Cormac McCarthy.