Recommended reading - 52 Pick-up (1974):

52 Pick-up

By Elmore Leonard.

aka Fifty-Two Pick Up.

Published by Mariner Books.

First published 1974.

ISBN-10: 0062266004

ISBN-13: 978-0062266002

Description:

Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell had had only one affair in his twenty-two years of happy matrimony. Unfortunately someone caught his indiscretion on film and now wants Harry to fork over one hundred grand to keep his infidelity a secret. And if Harry doesn't pay up, the blackmailer and his associates plan to press a lot harder – up to and including homicide, if necessary. But the psychos picked the wrong pigeon for their murderous scam. Because Harry Mitchell doesn't get mad ... he gets even.

"Probably no one knows this nation's rogues, bent cops, and sleazebags better than Elmore Leonard." – Newsday.

“An absolute master.” – The Detroit News.