The Golden Gizmo
The Golden Gizmo is a 1954 novel by the thriller writer Jim Thompson. Plot Toddy Kent, a former con-artist with a rap sheet in a dozen cities is now working as a door to door gold-buyer in Los Angeles for Milt Vonderheim's jewelry shop. Despite his disreputable line of work, he is able to keep a low profile in fear of the police digging into his criminal past. He lives in a hotel with his wife Elaine. Elaine spends most of Toddy's money on booze, and is a regular in the drunk tank. Their relationship is toxic but Toddy can't bring himself to leave Elaine, despite his friends urging him to. Milt has been a fatherly figure and a good friend to Toddy and Elaine. Toddy conceptualizes he has carried a "gizmo," a G.I. term for an unidentifiable, most of his life that time and again brings him the big break most men would kill for, only for it to slip through his fingers. At the outset of the story, Toddy is working and despite wanting to quit for the day, he calls on the last house in the neighborhood. A man named Alvarado, whom Toddy will refer to as