#2 in the Luis Mendoza series. This 1961 police procedural is mild by today's standards but it was groundbreaking for a Latino Homicide Lt. and a female writer in a male dominated field. The homicide crew decides that a drug overdose is not an accident or suicide and now must find the murderer. Mendoza's girl has her car stolen (we'll find that it's because the car is an old standard shift) and recovered a few days later with a clue vital to bringing the two cases together.A fun read and nostalgic because I last read this series when it was new.Luis Mendoza series - The second case of Lt. Luis Rodolfo Vincente Mendoza, of the L. A. police, develops through an over-heroin-ed death, the whereabouts of a vanished treasure of coins -- and an over-issue of dope pushing. A clutch of law-breaking brothers, a foreigner out to best local hoods, and an intermixture of Greeks, keep this on a thoroughly international breakthrough, with Luis protecting himself -- and his girl.
