Pigeon Blood (Black Mask)

A brilliant retired judge takes it upon himself to outwit a gang of thieves

A beautiful woman is driving down a lonely stretch of Long Island highway when the car beside her opens fire. The bullets shred her car but leave her unharmed, and she makes it back to Manhattan with her windshield broken but her skin intact. She is Mrs. Dale Hanan, estranged wife of a millionaire, whose gambling problem has gotten her in trouble with the wrong people. She is about to find out there are certain debts that can be paid only in blood.

No one can save her but Judge Druse, an ingenious scholar who uses his intellect to bring justice to those who escaped it while he was still sitting on the bench. When he meets Mrs. Hanan, she is drunk, and there is a dead man on the floor. Things can only get worse from here.