Well written, well paced, well plotted. This was a reread and I enjoyed it as much as I did on the first occasion. I prefer these early Matt Scudder novels to the later ones when he has conquered his alcoholism and turned respectable.

A pretty young girl is found butchered in her Greenwich apartment. Her room mate, the son of a Baptist minister is arrested and commits suicide in his cell. The case is closed as far as the police are concerned. The girl's father asks Matt to look into the case 'as a favour'. Matt, an ex-cop, is not a private investigator, but he will do 'favours for friends'.