The Dead Ringer

" [Fredric Brown is] my favorite writer of all time." — Mickey Spillane

" [Ed & Am are] an engaging pair of detectives . . . [Brown is] a real pro— a natural storyteller." — New York Times

Ed Hunter and his Uncle Am have left Chicago and hit the road, traveling with the carnival through podunk Midwestern towns— drinking, gambling, and fleecing the local rubes. Nineteen-year-old Ed is no closer to figuring out what he' s running from when a body turns up murdered on the midway. Next thing, he' s falling for the mercenary blonde showgirl who found the body. As more bodies pile up, Ed and Am are compelled to find the killer. But in the carney, there' s an unwritten code that makes investigating a crime as bad as, if not worse than, committing one. In this sequel to Fredric Brown' s Edgar Award– winning debut, The Fabulous Clipjoint, trouble has a way of finding Ed and Am, no matter where they go.

" [E]nough good people put Brown on their must-read lists and then become evangelists to keep his name alive on the same high shelf as Hammett, Thompson, Ross Macdonald, and other crime icons." — Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune