The Bad Die Young — Peter Chambers

Lovely Mona Stanford had a lot of unexplained money, and her husband hired Mark Preston to get it explained. Preston soon found himself in the rundown city of Forbesville, where they welcomed strangers at gun-point. Mayor Clegg seemed to be in the police-chief's pocket, and so did other leading citizens. Preston was used to unfriendly cops and tough cops, but murderous cops were a new experience, and that was the Forbesville variety. When he finally came up with the answer, it seemed unlikely he'd live long enough to repeat it.