Hit Parade by Lawrence Block

A very unusual modern mystery featuring a killer for hire named John Keller. This is my first book by this author, and I am impressed with his writing, very smooth. The main character has a code of honor, if you can call it that, for an assassin, as he goes about on his hits. He's starting to think it's time to pack it in, find a nice house in the desert. Only problem, is retirement takes money, and to get money, he's got to go to work. There is clever plots, tricky twists, emotional complexity, and even though he is a hit man, you gotta like the guy. One thing, even though this book is based on killing people, never does he resort to gore to raise the story.