Cop Out — Ellery Queen

To escape a manhunt, a gang of killers takes a cop's daughter hostage

After years of toil for Aztec Paper Products, Thomas Howland only makes $112.90 per week. When it comes time for the company to compensate its workers, he is in charge of carrying the payroll: $24,000 in cold hard cash. Eventually, Howland is overcome by temptation. In exchange for a promised cut of the spoils, he hands the payroll over to a gang of thieves -- but they reward him with 3 bullets in the heart. The heat is on, and the killers take refuge in the only thing they can: crime.
 
Wesley Malone is a small-town cop, as tough and honest as they come. When the criminals kidnap his daughter as part of a desperate attempt to avoid the law, he feels afraid for the first time -- not for himself, but for his little girl. Malone is determined to instill fear in this gang of thugs as well.