From Publishers Weekly When the general counsel for an avaricious conglomerate decides to spill all to an SEC investigator， private eye Tony Cassella is paid by a partner in a Wall Street law firm to get the transcript. The man is murdered in a mugging and Tony， no longer needed by the law firm， is hired by the victim's daughter to find who killed him. With a background that includes a stint as a corrections officer， a previous cocaine dependency and a year at Yale Law School， Casella is well equipped to follow the case from upper-crust Long Island to the Mafia fringe. What he can't do so well is stay faithful to his woman， or away from his old dealer. In this ambitious and convincing mystery， Cassella is a raw， believable hero-as-detective， an Everyman in whom love and sex， honor and revenge， desire and will play a piper's tune in counterpoint. Readers will root for Cassella to stay clean long enough to be hero of another tale. Foreign rights: Lantz Office. February 24Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information， Inc. Book Description "Arresting . . . The man really can write." The New York Times Book Review.Winner of the Edgar Award.With the soul of a street kid， reluctant ties to the mob， and the mind of an ivy-league sharpie， Tony Cassella is more than a private investigator. He's a man with a mission -- to stay true to himself， the people he loves， and a personal code he can't always live up to. When an old-line lawyer threatens to spill his guts to the SEC about his firm's dirty deals， Tony is hired by the top-drawer Wall Street firm to bug the secret testimony. But when the high-priced canary is found dead in a parking lot， Tony goes hunting for bigger game. But can he find the fat cat who killed the canary before he becomes the next birdie on the menu himself? --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews