This crime novel, runner up for the Edgar Award, concerns John Francis Cuddy, ex-military policeman and insurance claim investigator turned private eye. He is hired to investigate the disappearance of the teenage son of a prominent judge who, later, wants Cuddy permanently off the case. Blunt Darts was Jeremiah Healy's first novel which was followed up by The Tethered Goat , continuing the further adventures of J.F.Cuddy.