Here Comes A Candle — Fredric Brown

This noir classic by an Edgar Award winner delves into the mind of a criminal: “Close to the perfect psycho thriller . . . a relentless dance of death tempo.” -- The New York Times
 
With innovative style far ahead of its time, this novel follows Joe Bailey, perched precariously on the fence between two lives. He's seeing a good-hearted girl who holds the promise of a comfortably content, if uneventful, future. But he's also passionately drawn to a femme fatale -- and the world she inhabits, run by a tough Milwaukee racketeer.
 
Haunted by a childhood rhyme and accompanying trauma, Bailey wrestles with his demons, in this psychologically complex tale with a shocking twist by an award-winning author praised as “a natural storyteller” (The New York Times Book Review).