Mac Series / Every Bet s a Sure Thing / Thomas B. Dewey

Mac (his only given name) is a former Chicago cop who becomes a private detective and is assigned to tail a woman and two children travelling on a train from New York to Los Angeles. What could be easier? The identity of the client is a mystery to Mac, and it’s clear from the start that this is not a simple surveillance job. The target – her name is Harriet – gets off at every stop and uses the pay phone, and every time she gets off for a few minutes, local hoodlums hang around. A former agent who had been tailing Harriett is shot dead in the street when Mac takes over nationwide surveillance during a stopover in Chicago.