Benny Cooperman is a small time private eye, stuck in Gratham, Ontario, and it's winter. He's daydreaming about joining his folks in Florida when a beautiful blond walks in the door. She wants to hire Benny to find her good friend Johnny Rosa.

Johnny is out of jail now, but he's got lots of folks out looking for him. Him or the half a million dollars ransom he managed to collect on the kidnapping that sent him to jail. Once word gets out that Benny is on the case, he's got folks looking for him, too.Things, naturally, take a few twists, and somebody winds up dead. Will Benny figure out who's behind it all before he's dead, too?

I don't read a lot of noir, but I found myself thinking about my friends here who would enjoy this book. It's different from my usual read, but I liked it too. I couldn't help guessing that Benny was making a few dumb mistakes, but it turned out that he was one step ahead of me too. This is the second in the series, and I didn't read the first, but I don't feel like I missed anything by reading them out of order. Probably out of print, but if you like the genre, worth looking for. ( )