[Gutenberg 31577] • The Mighty Dead

Gault won the 1953 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for his crime fiction novel, Don't Cry for Me (1952). He won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Paperback Original in 1983 for The Cana Diversion and was awarded The Eye in 1984 for Lifetime Achievement, both by The Private Eye Writers of America. In 1991, he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. "I'm to understand this couldn't be put off until Monday?" His boss, Ryder, nodded. "And no other Security Officer would do?" "No other." Doak rose. "Anything else--sir?" Ryder smiled. "Just one. As a guess, what do you think it is, in the old Fisher place, on the Range Road?" "Readers," Doak answered, "or why would the former Senator be so worried?" Ryder chuckled. "I can see them now, in the curtained room, huddling over an old railroad timetable. I think your guess is sound, Doak." He rose. "And there'll be other weekends. That girl can wait. She isn't going to spoil." This is a world where reading is literally a Federal offense. Really.