Time to Kill

In the small New Jersey town of Arden, private eye Mack Barry-war-scarred, cynical, and itching for a new fight-takes on a case that feels like a personal crusade. A grieving father hires him to find the "fat cat" pushing drugs that drove his daughter to suicide. What Barry uncovers is a town rotting from the inside out: corrupt cops, a crime boss running a drug-fueled nightclub called Helldorado, and women whose every secret threatens to derail him.

Righteous, ruthless, and ready to ignite a one-man war, Barry takes on the pushers, the politicians, and anyone else standing in his way. Time to Kill is a feverish 1950s pulp thriller-steeped in sex, vice, and moral outrage-where every drag of smoke and flicker of desire could spark an inferno.

"Mack knows how to crack some skulls, and the fight scenes are vividly executed in his one man war against the mafia. Time to Kill is fast-moving, bruising, sincere, and unapologetically thrilling." Paperback Warrior

"Mack Barry, is in the tough, horny, hysterically righteous mode of Mike Hammer. Spain stocks his pool with enough red herrings to keep readers guessing awhile." True Pulp Fiction Blog

"Terry Spain" is one of many pseudonyms for author Ted Stratton (1902-1984). This was his first published novel and sold nearly 200,000 copies before slipping into obscurity.