A "wonderfully evocative" caper novel for fans of Donald E. Westlake and Elmore Leonard-"a signal pleasure for crime-fiction aficionados" (Booklist).

New Jersey, 1967. Angelo DiNoto is a powerful crime lord who bolsters his empire by importing pure heroin from an old Turkish farmer. But when a five-million-dollar shipment goes missing during the Newark riots, DiNoto isn't the only one to turn over every rock-and bust some heads, arms, and legs-to find it.

A shady developer sees the heroin as the key to rejuvenating his fading business. His daughter Gloria, literally in bed with a band of wannabe revolutionaries, thinks the stash could be her chance to escape her father's influence and impress the woman she truly loves. "The Mailman" is a longtime postal clerk who's survived the worst that life has to offer-until throat cancer robs him of his voice and the will to live. To him, the drugs are a ticket to a better place. Topping off the wild cast of characters running through Newark and Manhattan is Walkaway Kelly, a private eye and Hell's Kitchen barfly who teeters continually on the brink of redemption.

A twisty, thrilling crime story whose disparate threads converge in an unforgettable showdown, The Old Turk's Load is "a marvel of Chandleresque plotting, with a deeply felt and utterly real '60s setting and a heart as big as all outdoors" (Luc Sante, author of Low Life and Kill All Your Darlings).