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.