Day of The Moon by Bill Pronzini and Jeffrey Wallmann is a fine little crime novel. It was recommended a few weeks ago by James Reasoner on Patti Abbot’s Forgotten Friday books.
Flagg works for the “organization” as a troubleshooter, a sort of detective for the mob. He’s not a thug, preferring to use his brain instead of a weapon. But he’s capable and will use violence if necessary.
The novel is actually three novelettes smoothed into a single story, what in SF is termed a fix-up.The three stories involve an armored car heist gone bad, hijackings of the organization’s trucking operation, and an illegal moonshine operation cutting into profits. They all neatly tie into one story.
Flagg, single name only, is a character akin to Donald Westlake’s Parker(as by Richard Stark), a criminal that the reader ends up rooting for, the antihero who;s slightly less violent.
Originally it was to be a series, but the vagaries of publishing shot that down. There is a fourth novelette that remains uncollected. I’d be interested in reading that, but it doesn’t seem likely at this point.
Day of The Moon is easily available, at a good price, on the used book web sites and worth a look. The copy I bought looked like it had never been read, though one corner of the cover had small wrinkles.
