'What It Was' is worth every penny

If you haven't before, now's the time to take a chance on George Pelecanos, the best crime writer you've never read.

Why? His publisher is offering a limited-time 99-cent e-book deal on his new novel, What It Was. It's a steal. (The price is good until Feb. 27, when it goes up to $4.99, still a bargain.) Don't have an e-reader or a tablet? Well, you can buy the book as a trade paperback original for $9.99.

So, no excuses.

You'll get a rip-roaring introduction to Derek Strange, a black private investigator and the hero of a number of Pelecanos' earlier novels. Longtime fans can simply revel in vintage Pelecanos at his best.

In an author's note, Pelecanos, who also writes for TV (his credits include The Wire and Treme), explains that What It Was is inspired by a real-life, notorious D.C. criminal named Raymond "Cadillac" Smith.

Here, he's called Red "Fury" Jones; the "Red" "for his light skin and the tint of his hair," the "Fury" for the car that belongs to his woman — a red Plymouth Fury, GT Sport, two-door 440 V-8 with vanity plates that read "Coco."

The cars people drive, the music they listen to (here psychedelic funk), the clothes they wear and the streets where they live in the nation's capital — Pelecanos gets it all right with an easy, groovin' flow. It's the summer of 1972, and Watergate is about to break.

And crazy Red "Fury" Jones is about to make a name for himself, starting with a nasty murder that opens in the book in a spurt of shocking violence.

After killing the snitch, Bobby Odum, Jones pockets a ring that catches his eye. Soon after, a woman arrives at Derek Strange's office, asking him to find the missing piece of jewelry. Meantime, Derek's old partner — the politically incorrect but tenacious white homicide detective Frank Vaughn — is on Red's trail, too.

As we follow their parallel investigations — and the missing ring, which keeps changing hands — the tension builds deliciously and Pelecanos' soundtrack thumps ever louder.

So climb into the Fury, turn on the radio, and buckle up for one thrilling ride. For 99 cents, you can't afford to miss it.