When trouble gets his name and address, a New York cabbie with the heard of Sam Spade gets a new ID - RED DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE. Edgar award Nominee — THE BROAD HAD MORE MILES ON HER THAN THE N.J. TURNPIKE... — And so did the cab Simon Jaffe hacked around New York every day. But at night he went home to another world, his collection of the pulps: Black Mask and Crime Busters, Mickey Spillane and Same Spade. And especially Red Diamond, the ex-cop turned private eye who took on the tough guys with his .38 cocked, his fists at the ready, and a blond named Fifi at his side.

Then came the fateful afternoon when his wife hocked his entire collection and sent Simon over the edge - and onto the mean streets with a new identity: Red Diamond, PI. Now he was out there in the naked city looking for Fifi and getting his first deadly lessons in the ABCs: A for A crazy blue-eyed dame, B for the Big Boys, and C for coke, crime...and corpses.