Death on the Waterfront

Death on the Waterfront, first published in 1941, is a gritty noir thriller set on the New York waterfront. A body is discovered whose throat has been pierced by a longshoreman's hook, and the investigation by an assistant district attorney begins, first focused along the city docks and a newly elected union head, then to rich and influential shipping interests and politicians. Robert Archer was the pen name for Robert Vern DeWard (1894-1984), who wrote one other novel under this name.