Leadfoot -- Eric Beetner

Leadfoot is a prequel to Beetner's Rumrunners.  It's set in 1971, and Calvin McGraw is the leadfoot of the title, a driver with ties to a criminal family that go back generations, to the time when his ancestors were running booze.  Now McGraw is picks up and delivers packages.  He doesn't ask what's in them.  He just drives.  Now his son, Webb, 19 years old, is about ready to become a driver, too.  His father's been training him for years.  The two of them are making a delivery when things go wrong.  A man is killed, and Calvin finds himself in the middle of a mob war.  Webb goes out on his first job and loses the "package."  Things get complicated for the McGraw family, and graphic violence and fast driving ensue.  Things blow up real good.

Leadfoot moves almost as fast as Calvin McGraw drives.  The plot has several nice twists, and the prose is smooth and assured.  The book is just the right length, too.  If Beetner had been around in the 1950s, he could've had a nice career writing for Gold Medal or Dell First Editions, and that's a high compliment from me.  Get a copy of the book and you'll see what I mean.