Charles Willeford is one of the undiscovered masters of the American mystery. He wrote marvelous books that are far superior to those of much more popular authors. This is no exception and features Hoke Moseley, his Miami homicide detective sergeant. Williford’s world is darkly ironic and the humdrum, normal aspects of life, become part of the tension. Hoke is forced to make a series of accomodations and compromises, some very dark in this book.Hoke has been working on a series of unsolved murders when his boss, Major Brownley and Mel, an immigration cop, ask him to go undercover to root out the murderer of some illegal Haitian immigrants. The woman he is living with — not really living with in the common sense, they are chastely sharing a house to save money with Hoke’s two teenage daughters -- ex-partner Ellita and her baby, has begun showing interest in a new neighbor, Donald Hutton, a man Hoke has reason to worry about because Hoke believes him to be a murderer who was released from jail too early. Hutton had sworn to get Hoke. He’s also working on a cold case, the murder of a physician, and he has just uncovered a clue that he believes will help solve the case, so he’s not enthusiastic about the new undercover work. It turns out to be a bloody assignment — there is a truly shocking scene where the foreman of the farm tries to kill and sodomize Hoke — one that we learn at the end of the novel was something of a setup to see how he would be able to react in difficult and lonely situations.
Willeford easily ranks with Hammett and McDonald.
