One good deed
(Book)

It's 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, put away for a crime he didn't commit, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of Dos and a much longer list of Don'ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don't go to bars, certainly don't drink alcohol, do get a job, and don't ever associate with loose women. The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employmentand a stiff drinkleads him to a local bar where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman. Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won't be so easy. The indebted man has a furious grudge against Hank and refuses to pay, Hank's clever mistress has her own designs on Archer, and both Hank and Archer's stern parole officer, Miss Crabtree, are keeping a sharp eye on him. When a murder takes place right under Archer's nose, police suspicions rise against the ex-convict, and Archer realizes the crime could send him right back to prison if he doesn't use every skill in his arsenal to track down the real killer.