The Third Figure
By Collin Wilcox.
Published by Dodd, Mead.
First published 1968.
ASIN: B0006BUJVS
Description:
A mob boss is dead, and
his widow wants Drake to help him rest in peace. Dominic Vennezio is found on
the floor of his beachside love nest, murdered on a Sunday night. It looks like
an ordinary mob hit, part of a routine power struggle with the East Coast
Outfit, but Vennezio's widow has other suspicions. Her marriage to the kingpin
had been strained ever since he began taking his secretary for weekends at the
beach house, but even now, she feels a devotion to him. She wants justice for
her husband – not just legal, but cosmic – and for cosmic justice, San
Francisco can offer no better sleuth than Stephen Drake. A crime reporter with
a clairvoyant streak, Drake's apprehensions about working for the mob are
overcome by his sympathy for the noble widow. He starts his investigation in
Los Angeles, talking to Vennezio's replacement, and sees immediately that it
doesn't take a psychic to figure out that this job could be deadly.