Didn't someone say that life in the early Middle Ages was 'nasty, brutish, and short'? That's a pretty good description of this book. Demaris was good." Bill Crider, award-winning writer of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels. Corrupt LAPD cop Vince Fusco crosses a big line when he executes a drug dealer for his drugs and his woman...but things get worse when he realizes there were witnesses. Now he's violently raging through the sordid alleys and back streets of L.A.'s drug culture, searching for the witnesses and a big shipment of heroin, aka horse, aka the gold mare. The only one standing in Fusco's way is a lowly reporter on the crime beat...a guy who has more bourbon than blood running through his veins... chasing a story that could be his final byline."A compelling, fast-moving crime-noir read from beginning to end. The book is a fantastic first-effort from an author who simply excelled in this genre." Paperback Warrior"Demaris is a writer of real talent...as good as pulp fiction gets." NB Magazine UK"Whoever said crime doesn't pay has never spoken to Ovid Demaris." New York Times