The dead of winter

the long version

Joe Bellano never hurt nobody. A gentle barber who takes bets on the side, he’s muddling through life when his world comes crashing down around him. First he’s arrested by an overzealous police force hoping for dirt on the local mob. Released after convincing the police that he’s strictly small time, Bellano is trying to get back to normal when his teenage daughter vanishes. After years of keeping a low profile, Bellano finds himself with enemies on both sides of the law. Which one snatched his daughter?Hemmed in by the feds and the mob, Bellano turns to Jacob Lomax, a private detective with a soft spot for bookies. The case seems routine until Bellano is killed by a car bomb meant for the missing girl. The barber may have been a crook, but his daughter is innocent, and Lomax will risk death to save her from her father’s fate