Like the kind of cars they don't make anymore and the kind of songs they don't sing, the novels of George Pelecanos have the style, rhythm and muscle of classics. Shoedog is vintage Pelecanos: a tale that throbs with soul and pulsates with menace.

Constantine was born in D.C., and has been traveling the world ever since-finding everything but a home. Randolph has stayed in this city every day, selling shoes in a downtown store, taking care of ladies who lie about their sizes and sometimes fit him into their beds. Now these two strangers, one white, one black, have come together in a criminal's audacious plan.

With five partners and the hit ready to go down, Constantine doesn't understand the treacheries, feuds and fantasies swirling around him-and he's fallen for a woman who only doubles his risk. But Randolph, a self-confessed "shoedog," can smell trouble a mile away. And when the shooting starts, he'll give Constantine a chance to live-or die where he was born.