Little Men, Big World / Vanity Row

Product Descriptiontwo Novels That Probe The Political Corruption Of A Big Midwestern City, Where The Important Deals Are Always Made Behind Closed Doors, And The Real Power Is Wielded Behind The Throne. Along With The Asphalt Jungle, These Three Novels Form A Thematic Trio Known As The Urban Trilogy.ReviewThe Dark Byways Of Crime... Taut And Menacing... San Francisco Chronicle These Novels Dramatize Gangland Operations And The Progressive Corruption Of A City Political Administration... That Is Physically And Morally Disintegrating.Enotes Fanciers Of MidTwentiethCentury Noir WonT Want To Miss These Moody, Dark Tales.Booklistfrom The Inside Flaplittle Men, Big World Ben Reisman, Veteran Columnist For The Journal, Is Bored. So When He Stumbles Across A Reference To A Character Known As De Ark, An Underworld Person Who Seems To Operate Without Anyone Knowing About Him, He Is Intrigued. De Ark Is In Fact, Mr. Orral Wanty, Arky To His Friends, The Right Hand Man Of The Mover, The Man Who Really Runs The City. ArkyS Control Is So Tight, Even Commissioner Stark, The Zealous LawAndOrder Crusader, Has Never Heard Of Him. But ArkyS Hand Is Everywhere. HeS The Man Leon Sollas, Front For The Syndicate, Makes His Weekly Payment Toand HeS The Man Who Sollas Goes To When He Wants Out. But ArkyS Got Problems Of His Own. The Big City Boys Want To Move In. His Woman, Anna, Wants A Baby. And Somewhere, Hot On His Trail, Is A Newspaper Man In Search Of A Story Vanity Row Police Captain Roy Hargis Is The AdministrationS FairHaired Boy, Only Answering To Chad Bayliss, The CityS Political Boss. Most Of The Officers Are In Awe Of Him. Hargis Can Do No Wrong. He Knows How To Cut To The Heart Of A Case And Bring The Facts Home To The D.A.S Office. So When Rich Lawyer Frank Hobart Is Shot Down In Cold Blood, It Looks Open And Shut. Hobart Had Been Fooling Around With A Babe Named Ilona Vance, Things Got Out Of Hand, And She Kills Him. But Hargis DoesnT Figure It That Waynot After He Meets Miss Vance. Because Ilona Vance Is A Force To Be Reckoned With, Not Merely Beautiful, But So Desirable It Almost Hurts. Hargis Will Go To Any Lengths To Get Her Off, But HeS Up Against It This Time. The Syndicate Wants To See Her Burn, Bayliss Wants A Quick Conviction, And Hargis Is Finding His Tough Shell Has Been Thoroughly Cracked.About The Authorwilliam Ripley Burnett Was Born November 25, 1899 In Springfield, Ohio. Moving To Chicago In 1927, He Developed An Interest In Gangsters Which Prompted Him To Write His First Noir Novel, Little Caesar, In 1929. Soon After That Overnight Success, Burnett Moved To Los Angeles, Eventually Writing 36 Novelsincluding The Classic High SierraAnd 60 Screenplays, As Well As Songs, Plays And Short Stories. Nominated Twice For An Academy Award, He Received Both The Mwa Grand Master Award And An O. Henry Memorial Award. Burnett Died On April 25, 1982.