Deadly Pawn is a crime/mystery novel set in the 30's just after the end of prohibition. Coming from a long line of money he is the black sheep of the family. His Grandfather got him interested in solving crimes when he was a boy. At seventeen he was carrying twin forty-fives and a U.S. Marshals badge. Only to leave the service at the height of prohibition or what he likes to call 'that nasty little dry spell'. Now the hard drinking, heavy smoking Dawson is a part time gumshoe that gets involved in cases mostly out of curiosity. When he is sent a note asking him to be in front of the Barbershop it would be curiosity that would make him go. When the person who invited him doesn't show up, it would be curiosity that wouldn't let him leave. When the owner of a pawn shop is murdered it would be curiosity that would get him to help his longtime friend and detective find out who killed him. Curiosity killed the cat they say, but then again they don't know Dawson.