Falling Angel -- William Hjortsberg
At first, I thought that this seemed like a typical noir-ish detective novel:
666 Fifth Avenue was an unhappy marriage of the International Style and our own home-grown tailfin technology. It had gone up two years before between 52nd and 53rd streets: a million square feet of office space sheathed in embossed aluminum panels. It looked like a forty-story cheese grater. There was a waterfall in the lobby, but that didn't seem to help.
But then you meet Harry Angel's client:
Seated there in a custom-made blue pin-stripe suit with a blood-red rosebud in his lapel was a man who might have been anywhere between forty-five and sixty. His hair was black and full, combed straight back on a high forehead, yet is square-cut goatee and pointed moustache were white as ermine. He was tanned and elegant; his eyes a distant, etheral blue. A tiny, inverted golden star gleamed on his maroon silk necktie.
The client's name is Louis Cyphre; he wants Harry to find a man:
Cyphre stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray and toyed with the age-yellowed ivory holder. It was carved in the shape of a coiled serpent with the head of a crowing rooster. "Be patient with me, Mr. Angel. I'm getting to the point, however circuitously. I gave Johnny some help at the start of his career. I was never his agent, but I was able to use my influence in his behalf. In recognition of my assistance, which was considerable, we had a contract. Certain collateral was involved. This was to be forfeited in the event of his death. I'm sorry that I can't be more explicit, but the terms of our agreement specified that the details remain confidential."
Do you see where it's going? I did, but I didn't believe it until I checked the publication date: 1978. Then I knew I wasn't imagining things. Or at least, I thought that I knew that I wasn't imagining things.
Way fun. And hey, there's a movie! I had no idea! And William Hjortsberg wrote the screenplay to Legend! Yeah, Legend! From back when Tom Cruise didn't suck!