The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope

Another exciting entry in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope follows Gil Henry, a Kentucky lawyer who begins investigating a stock fraud and winds up investigating a murder. When Ruth McClure approaches Gil andasks him to investigate the stock she inherited from her father, he reluctantly agrees, never expecting to be embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. But the more he digs the deeper the manipulation scheme goes, and it becomes unclear whether Gil will find a way out. In this portrait of pre-WWII America, this exceptional mystery combines fast-paced plotting and a breezy writing style with C.W. Grafton's thorough knowledge of the law. Grafton was also one of the first to add humor to the hard-boiledstyle of Hammett and Chandler--