As a kid, one of my favorite board games was Dealer’s Choice, a sort of distaff version of Monopoly where players buy and sell used cars, not houses, using lies, trickery, and plain old hucksterism to come out ahead.

The protagonist of Joe Lansdale’s new standalone, Ed Edwards, is an ace used-car salesman, and he would have made a killing at the game—possibly literally.

Certainly he gets some blood on his hands in this book, which turns the odometer of Lansdale’s trademark East Texas noir storytelling back to the early ’60s, with a hefty amount of James M. Cain’s sawdust tossed into the transmission to keep everything running smoothly.

There’s no danger of new car smell here (although Lansdale, to his credit, does add some serious spit shine to the tale that would never have flown back then), but who cares when the story runs as smoothly as this one?

Ed’s a master salesman for Smilin’ Dave’s Used Cars, an ambitious and charming cheat who thinks he has life by the hubcaps. Oh, his mom’s an aging, hopeless drunk, and although he and his younger, smarter sister can “pass,” he’d rather it didn’t come out that his long-gone daddy was black. This is East Texas, after all. In the ’60s. But like I said, Ed’s got plans.

And then Smilin’ Dave, every bit as much of a greaseball scam artist as Ed, asks him to repo a Cadillac. Should be an easy few extra bucks, Ed figures. But before you can say The Postman Always Rings Twice (or is it Double Indemnity?), Ed falls under the spell of Nancy, the sexy and very available wife of Frank Craig, the Caddy’s owner, a successful but rarely home lout who also owns a drive-in theater and an adjoining pet cemetery.

Soon enough, they’re revving each other’s engines, knocking knees, swapping spit, and plotting to bump off Frank. Ed susses it out: he gets Nancy, plus the keys to two (count ’em, TWO!) successful businesses? And the insurance on dear dead hubby? What could be a better deal?

Alas, the course of true love (or more precisely lust and greed) does not run as smoothly as Ed planned, and things skid a little out of control. But to say any more would be telling…

Go on, take this one for a spin. See how she handles the curves. You’ve got yourself a real bargain here, mister. Trust me.