The Eighth Circle

Murray Kirk didn't need the Lundeen case. He had made a very good thing of the private detective business. He earned around $100,000 a year, lived in a suite in a first-rate hotel, owned a Cadillac and was seriously considering buying a Porsche, and had a mistress who was frequently mentioned in the gossip columns.

The Lundeen case was not going to be very rewarding in terms of money or publicity. Lundeen was a cop accused of taking bribes from bookmakers. He swore he was innocent and had found a lawyer who believed in him. The lawyer needed evidence and came to the best man in the business: Kirk.

Kirk took the case in order to prove that Lundeen was guilty. He had nothing against this particular cop, but the cop had something he wanted—a girl. She was in the same league as the income, the hotel suite, and the Cadiilac [sic]. Kirk knew at once that he wanted her, but he didn't know how touch. He didn't know how much he was going to give up to get her.

The case seemed so routine at the start. Put the Kirk organization to work. Find the witness whose testimony had damned Lundeen. Then find the higher-up who was keeping him in hiding. Get after Mr. Big who ran the bookmaking racket and then the Mr. Bigger who ran him. This was the ordinary world of the private detective. Move around in it. Some of the dirt rubs off.

The Eighth Circle is as much a story of what happens to Murray Kirk as the story of what happens to his client. The case is solved and it is solved dramatically, but along the way there are important other solutions which add an extra dimension to this powerful crime novel.