Little Caesar / The Silver Eagle — W.R. Burnett

LITTLE CAESARRico is a small, pale man, but he has guts, endurance and a steely single-mindedness. When Vettori sends the gang out to rob a local nightclub, Rico shoots a cop who pulls a gun on him. They get away, but Vettori is shocked. He had told Rico, no gunplay. That's when Rico realizes that Vettori has gone soft. He's too old to control the gang anymore. So Rico takes over. With the faithful Otero at his side, the rest of them quickly shift their allegiances. Now the world is Rico's. It's his gang, and he's calling all the shots. But there is always a weak link, someone who's ready to spill when the bulls get tough. And sooner or later the nightclub killing is bound to catch up with him.THE SILVER EAGLEHarworth comes from the school of hard knocks. He knows what it's like to be poor, and rejected. So when he takes his horserace winnings and invests them instead of turning them over again at the faro table, all of a sudden he finds himself well-to-do and in a new class. He decides to act the part as well, and sports a monocle and a walking stick. But Harworth isn't fooling the rich folks he falls in with, nor the gangsters who want to help him with his investments. To Helen and Louise, Harworth is an intriguing bit of rough trade. To Canovi and Molina, he represents a mark who can easily front for their crooked dealings. But where does Harworth himself fit in? To whose world does he really belong?