The man can tell a story!San Francisco Chronicle

McGivern has made himself a master of his craft.Boston Globe

McGivern gets better all the timewill keep you reading until you finish, it is all so compulsive.Publishers Weekly

This classic police procedural is a recent addition to the ever growing numbers of recordings of vintage material. Despite having been written more than 50 years ago, it holds up well, thanks to sharp dialogue and Christopher Lane's crisp reading.AudioFile

Murder was in the air. A cop had killed himself, and every crook in town knew that would be sure to bring on the big heat.
It started almost innocently when a cop committed suicide. It was worry over ill health, said his wife. Detective Dave Bannion wasnt so sure, but when he started digging, he was told to lay offfast! Instead, he turned in his badge and started stalking the city streets and bars in search of the truth where he uncovers a red-hot story of murder and corruption that would blow Philadelphias underworld sky high.
Bannion was big, strong, and angry enough to kill, but he was only one honest man in a city full of mobsters and crooked cops. The big heat was on.

William P. McGivern (1919-1982), born in Chicago, grew up in Mobile, Alabama. After quitting high school, he started to write. He served in WW II then studied in England before returning to the United States where he worked as a police reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin. After his first novels appeared in the 1940s, he received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. In the 1960s, he and his wife moved to Hollywood where he wrote for film and for television shows, including Kojak. Several of his books were made into motion pictures, including The Big Heat and Rogue Cop.

Christopher Lane is an award-winning actor, director, and narrator. Earning rave reviews on every book he has narrated for Blackstone, he received the coveted Audie Award in 2004. He lives in Washington, D.C.