Goldilocks — Andrew Coburn

Goldilocks is vintage Coburn, the Coburn of Sweetheart, The Babysitter, and Love Nest. This is a story of a New England town where all the deals have been quietly cut, the cops have traded their souls to crime bosses, and the crime boss of crime bosses -- a beautiful woman from the wrong side of the tracks -- has married up, into the WASPs, and her name decorates ever corner and library in town. And into this quiet swamp with its smooth surface drops Goldilocks -- tall and blond, with exquisite blue eyes, the new boy in town, and so vicious he makes the rest of them know that life before Goldilocks was like a fairy tale.

Small wonder The New York Times crime book critic Newgate Callendar writes, “Natural storytellers are not too common but Mr. Coburn is one.” An angry yet still sexy widow becomes the prey of Vietnam vet Goldilocks, but he, too, gets caught in the web of evildoing and gets his just deserts, though not till the town is turned end to end. No question -- Coburn can write up a storm.