The Leather Duke by Gruber Frank (Author)

Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg have faced many a tough problem in their lives, but never one so dismal as the one they come up against now. Circumstances beyond their control (and for once, beyond their ability to twist, sidestep, or disregard) force the boys either to take jobs in order to cat or to sit out a Chicago winter on a park bench. So, fighting every inch of the way, they become the employees of “the Leather Duke,” Chicago’s biggest operator in the leather business.
Most leather workers grind drearily along for years with nothing to break the monotony. Not so Johnny and Sam. Before they’ve been there half a day, Sam finds a corpse where he should have found a barrel of leather counters. Then the uproar begins. Whether they’re fighting in poolrooms in Little Italy, mixing it up at Turnverein dances, or merely adding a fine new lustre to their well-developed art of deadbeating, these two lads are at it every minute. Johnny Fletcher fans will find this full of excitement. So will everybody else.