T,
Re your question below:
"How about it? I can't think of a single hardboiled novel taking place
in the world of finance... it's topical, I know, and not in a
comforting way. Perhaps Higgins wrote something about that world? I
think I am missing some of his novels. Surely the savings and loans
scam brought forth some crime novels?"
Didn't E. Howard Hunt write a series about a hard-boiled CPA who solved crimes when he wasn't doing audits or something? Can't recall the name of the character off-hand, but I'm sure Bill Crider would remember.
You might not regard THE BILLION DOLLAR SURE THING as hard-boiled, but the author, Paul Erdman, was an ex-con, which puts him in the same company as E. Richard Johnson and Malcom Braly.
Ed McBain's classic kidnapping thriller, KING'S RANSOM, has the boys of the 87th trying to rescue a child nabbed bu by mistake (he's the son of chauffer rather than the son of the rich guy they were going to extort the ransom from). When they find they've abducted the wrong kid, they demand the ransom from the wealthy industrialist anyway. Problem? The industrialist is about to make the biggest deal of his career, and paying the ransom will deplete him of liquid assets he needs immediate access to.
Off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others.
JIM DOHERTY
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