In 1909 Miami, Jerome Blake’s weekly rounds for Big Jim barely keep him fed. When a simple collection spirals into a moral reckoning, Jerome and his partner bolt for Tampa’s booming bolita houses—where numbers buy protection and a man’s worth is measured in cash. There he meets Marty Hooker, who runs the city’s underworld with ledgers, politeness, and guns. When a staged test goes violently wrong, guilt and ambition drive Jerome to upend the game. He steals a runner’s ledger and bargains with Charlie Wall—Florida’s most infamous gangster—using the one currency the empire can’t easily seize: the truth. Fast, atmospheric, and ruthless, The Numbers Man follows Jerome’s rise from hustler to strategist in a world where loyalty is a liability and every secret has a price. But as his copies multiply, Jerome must decide whether they’ll save him—or destroy everything he’s built. A gripping historical crime novel set in early 1900s Florida. In Tampa’s dangerous bolita underworld, a street hustler discovers power comes at a deadly price. The Numbers Man blends crime noir, historical fiction, and Southern grit—perfect for lovers of Boardwalk Empire , Peaky Blinders , and Prohibition-era thrillers.