In some ways, the story of Tony Romero, the protagonist of The Peddler, is similar to the later story of Tony Montana of the Scarface movie. It is the story of a nobody from a nowhere background determined to rise up in the ranks of criminal organized crime with a quickness that demonstrates his keen determination. Here, the criminal organization is not peddling drugs, but human flesh.

Here, Romero meets Maria Casino, who had known from high school days, and finds that she is working in one of the houses in San Francisco and is amazed by how much dough flows through the houses to the crime bosses. He saw her as she hurried out of the Green Room and "Something about her stirred memory in his brain and he walked slowly after her, watching the black skirt swirl above her rounded calves, the slow, liquid ripple of her hips." After having dinner, he queries about why she only got half the dough from her tricks and finds out that there were guys who ran the show, Sharkey and Angelo.

Romero finds that Maria is working a party later that night and he knows some of the players there and finagles an introduction. When he gets to the party (after spending the evening sweating about whether she would come through with his invite), he thinks that it was one of those places that smelled like money. "It made him think of fat guys getting their pink faces patted in barber shops, and slant-eyed women with gold douche bags." He also meets a slinky brunette, Ginny, Sharkey's wife. "[S]he was a hot one. She couldn't be more than twenty-five or twenty-six, and she was built like a burlesque stripper."

Soon, Romero meets the boss (Sharkey) and works his way into the organization. He sets up an argument with one of the chieftains and soon takes over his district and eventually Romero takes on the boss himself and ousts him to take over and run all the houses in the city. No one is fooled that Romero is anything but ambitious and that anything he does is by accident. He is moving up the ladder. He wants the money and the power.

Of course, there is always another boss (Angelo) and, in taking over so quickly, Romero finds himself blackmailed and then eventually forced to leave the city and ousted from power. Angelo is a snake in the grass and the real power no matter who is running the houses.

Although the plot itself is not terribly complicated, it is a well-written and engrossing story that captures the reader immediately. It is a story of blind ambition that knows no bounds and Prather does an excellent job of capturing the psyche of Romero. ( )

In the cut-throat world of organized crime, Tony Romero was headed straight for the top. His territory: the brothels of San Francisco. But the path was littered with bodies and broken dreams - some of them his. This is a tough, mean story about a sociopathic young man who claws his way to the top of the prostitution rackets of 1950s San Francisco and who is ironically undone by an ex-hooker. Originally published in 1952 under pseudonym "Douglas Ring" the story delivers a vicious portrayal of the criminal lifestyle. Although the story loses it way a bit at the halfway point it is still a hugely entertaining and well-written tale of criminal hubris. Prather’s prose is smooth and formal, keeping the plot moving but not delving too deeply into character. Although not the best from the Hard Case Crime imprint (this is volume 27) it is still a fine read. ( )

Tony Romero, the main character in The Peddler, is about the most unlikeable hoodlum to ever appear in the Hard Case Crime series. He is a textbook psychopath, and I expect most readers will find themselves anticipating his eventual comeuppance. The writing is crisp and fast-moving, but the overall experience wasn't quite satisfying. ( )