Killing Time

Winston was a town where, as in a mobile, everything balanced precariously. It looked all right to visitors, and even to most of the people who lived there. Children got to school safely, and there wasn’t much union trouble, and the streets were fairly clean and well paved. A few people knew better about Winston — because they ran the town.

KILLING TIME is the story of what happened when a couple of outsiders tried to interfere with those few people. The VIPs you’ll meet in the book are briefly described herewith.

TIM SMITH — the only private eye in town — who maintained this status with a “little black book”

JORDAN REED — the business big-wig who was mayor of Winston in everything but name

DAN WANAMAKER — who had the name of Mayor

HARCUM — the boy who was voted least likely to succeed — so of course became Police Chief

JACK WYCZA — the councilman who believed in nepotism — when he needed it

RON LASCOW — the town’s sharpest young lawyer or youngest sharp lawyer

SHERRI — a girl who played both sides of the game once too often

PAUL MASETTI — who came to town with the peculiar project of buying a man

JOEY CASALE — the grocer with a family he could turn into an army — and did

Of Donald Westlake’s first novel, one reviewer wrote: “Mr. Westlake’s clipped, breezy, bitter picture of a college man who found crime paid and was stimulating, too, marks him as a newcomer most certainly arrived.”

“Clipped, breezy, bitter” could certainly be used about killing time. To this add: rough, tough, and fast as a bullet.