Matthew Scudder Crime Novel #9. "A master... Lawrence Block's estimable private eye Matthew Scudder is one of the most fully developed and credible characters working in the genre today" (Chicago Tribune).

In Matt Scudder's mind, money, power, and position elevate nobody above morality and the law. Now the ex-cop and unlicensed p.i. has been hired to prove that socialite Richard Thurman orchestrated the brutal murder of his beautiful, pregnant wife. During Scudder's hard drinking years, he left a piece of his soul on every seedy corner of the Big Apple. But this case is more depraved and more potentially devastating than anything he experienced while floundering in the urban depths. Because this investigation is leading Scudder on a frightening grand tour of New York's sex-for-sale underworld -- where an innocent young life is simply a commodity to be bought and perverted ... and then destroyed.

About Scudder: Matt Scudder -- ex-cop, unlicensed private eye, sober alcoholic -- is an unusual hero. Consorting with cops and criminals alike, Scudder's a man who believes in justice, but who knows that no one is innocent. He is the complex and intriguing hero of a classic contemporary noir series by Grand Master of Mystery Lawrence Block.