A Johnny Killain Novel The mob got the word when Killain hit town-lock up your women and load your guns Carl Thompson reached in a pocket with his free hand and tossed a glittering object across the room. Johnny caught it and looked down at part of a gold badge in his hand. It had been torn jaggedly through the center from top to bottom.

It happened in Hotel Duarte, a bullet length from the Great White Way, where life begins at eight-forty-and often ends by midnight with a couple of murders. For instance, the murder of a dumb welterweight who took his dive-and got paid off in lead. He was the brother of Johnny Killain's gal, and that was pure bad luck for the fight mob-because Killain went in swinging with no referee to call him off. This great big deadly weapon of a man knew every dirty punch ever invented-and he would use them all to find the killer...

Johnny had a passkey to all the hotel rooms. He wasn't looking for murder, but he found it-and worse On the streets of a big city people smile and the fights are bright. But there is an altey world of darkness, double-dealing and death; in this world you need muscles and brains to take a step-and only the lucky ones live long. These two worlds meet in Hotel Duarte. Johnny Killain had a fistful of experience with both worlds-and with Hotel Duarte: The girl in 1109 was a schoolmarm from a small western town; but when she visited the city she left her morals at home, stripped off the drab...

The Statute was knee-high, but it carried a fortune in gold and gems, plus centuries of fame in the art world. Everyone wanted it, and for some no price was too high-love, money, or murder... then Johnny Killain stepped in. The Redhead made the first pitch, and she had Killain twanging like a hopped-up fiddle-but not one note about the statue. The Blonde tried to bargain across a wide-screen bed, and she convinced Johnny he should negotiate-but not about the statue. The Ape had a simple proposition: Hand over the statue or I'll beat you in the head This annoyed Johnny Killain. Much bloodshed...

THE KINGDOM OF KILLAIN- -that's the Duarte, a big-city hotel at the cross 'roads of the world. The grifters, tough lads, girls on the make-all learn to stay away from Hotel Duarte because Johnny Killain's in charge there. That's his turf-a flick of his fist makes broken guys and dolls. So Johnny patrolled the dark corridors in peace until the night he rounded a bend and looked murder square in the eye. The blonde lay on the bed in 609, her face a puffed, blue, strangled horror. Her name was Ellen Killain, and she was Johnny's ex-wife. His still beloved ex-wife.