It was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American author.

To prove his innocence and track down the real killer, Stevens hires a private investigator by the name of Norman Z. Moody.

McGreavy, along with his police force tries to catch Stevens but he escapes and eventually realises that Don Vinton, in Italian, means the Big Man, a title given to the leader of a criminal syndicate: La Cosa Nostra.

He contacts Angeli, who lures him to Anthony DeMarco (a capo of La Cosa Nostra and a megalomaniac), who is revealed to be Anne's husband.

In 1984 the novel was adapted as a film directed by Bryan Forbes, starring Roger Moore and Rod Steiger.