The Fabulous Clipjoint (1948) by Frederic Brown is delightful pulp fiction set in late 40s Chicago. This is not literary fiction, so expect lots of action.
It's also a coming of age story for a young man who loses his father in a mysterious murder (or was it random back alley bad luck?), getting a second chance to discover who his dad was through reuniting with his uncle in order to solve the case. It's told in the first person from the point-of-view of the young man.
And for old typographers, the bits of linotype history scattered throughout is a fond tribute to that bygone era ... written when the era was very much alive.
And all this in a "first novel".
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