Leslie Gibson was a wealthy, beautiful, seventeen-year-old brat - out for kicks at any price! And Leslie had decided that Reid Rance, adventurer and travel guide extraordinaire, was just the man to show her the hot spots of Mexico. But touring led to trouble with a capital T, and Reid was soon minus one debutante, but plus several unwanted corpses, and desperately wanted by the Mexican and American police as well as the Mexican underground. Could Reid evade the cops and rescue Leslie from the underground abductors before time ran out for them both...?(cover)

had girl, will travel...

Reid Rance was a travel agent. The kind who would take you where the tourists seldom went. But when Mrs. May Gibson asked him to chaperon her wild daughter Leslie around Mexico, he begged off. "Why me?" he asked.
"Because you were a police officer once," she answered, "and Leslie won't be able to shake you off."
Rance wanted no part of the deal, but he was behind in his rent, and Mrs. Gibson owned the building. In fact, Mrs. Gibson owned just about everything -- and everyone -- in Greengrove.
It wouldn't be easy, Rance warned Mrs. Gibson. And it wasn't. Within two days Leslie had disappeared from their Mexican hotel. And in her place was a note demanding $5,000 -- or else.

Cast of characters included. Ghostwritten by Charles W. Runyon. In a 2007 interview by Ed Gorman Charles answered this to the question which of his novels he would most like to see reprinted and why?
"There are at least three that might go down well with today’s readers. The Last Score was rushed to completion as a work-for-hire, for Manfred Lee and Fred Dannay, and published under their byline of Ellery Queen. I still have a paternal affection for the book, and would like to see it reprinted under it’s “rightful” parentage"

The Last Score Translations: Dutch/Flemish: De afrekening German: Das Gold von Acapulco Italian: Safari per una lolita