The House on Q Street — Howard Hunt

The Steve Bentley series simply rocks, a string of entertaining high-energy, hard-boiled romps that are perfect examples of the late fifties/early sixties paperback P.I. The Thrilling Detective Steve Bentley was a spy during the Korean War and now works as an accountant in Washington D.C. But his conservative job hides a brutal toughness...and a tendancy to get himself in trouble. He agrees to help Francie Ballou, a teenage addict and mother who is ensnared in a murder plot that involves the mob. To get her out of it, Steve may have to do some killing himself...The third book in the Steve Bentley series, written by Robert Dietrich, a pseudonym for E. Howard Hunt, who is better known for his role in the Watergate scandal than for his terrific crime novels.