A .38, a nip of gin and sensational legs get Depression-era private investigator Maggie Sullivan out of most scrapes – until a stranger threatens to bust her nose, she’s hauled in on suspicion of his murder and she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a crime boss with connections at City Hall.Moving through streets where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources … sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a ragged newsboy; the other career girls at her rooming house.
Her digging gets her chloroformed and left in a ditch behind the wheel of her DeSoto. She makes her way to an upscale bordello and gets tea – and information – from the madam herself.
A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer.
If you like Robert B. Parker’s hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don’t miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats — but seldom a Smith & Wesson.
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Female Sam Spade.
A lady PI places her life in jeopardy trying to help her clients. Her deductive powers are used sorting through underworld crimes.
She’ll use all her powers to stay alive and return her clients lives to normal.
Great Read!
She’s a feisty dame with moxie to burn. There’s a gun taped under her office chair, and she’s hard to scare off. She can bounce back from a punch with the best of them, and she can snoop to put a bloodhound to shame. But it’s the tail end of the depression, and she’s a single girl on her own. That means she can’t be out too late, or the landlady …
I like the genre it was written in. Old style detective story
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much I bought the rest of the series. There is interesting information about a woman private detective and history of law enforcement, both private and public, in Ohio during an era where women were not taken seriously in that job.
Well written, and I enjoyed the read.
Liked the main character
enjoyed this mystery set in 1930’s Dayton, Ohio where I used to live.
I liked the heroine and appreciated the transportation back to the “good old days.” It felt like I was there. And, it read kind of like a female Mike Hammer.
I liked the way she created depression era Dayton Ohio and with a good mystery
I enjoyed the writing in this book, the witty dialogue and the protagonist. Interesting characters. Ms. Myers was extremely creative in avoiding use of cliches, one of the best I’ve read. A few typos but didn’t bring down the story. Must read Book 2. Thank you.
Remember the old pulp mystery magazines and their great stories. This is like them and most enjoyable, “gams” and all.
I loved the 1920s female detective character. She wore her male doubted, unlikely for the time period, but very believable, successful feminist role very humorously and effectively.
Excellent and I want to read more in this series.
Enjoyable page turner
It ended too soon, it was THAT GOOD!!
Very entertaining read. Loved the word pictures. I will be watching for other books from this author.
If I read it, it was excellent !!!!! I READ IT. JAK, jr.
I enjoyed the period setting
Maggie Sullivan is a very likable, interesting character. The time period makes the stories more interesting and less about technology and more about hard work and creativity.
I have read the series and look forward to the next books.
The author did a fantastic job in re-creating the hard-boiled detective fiction of the 1940s (or in this case 1930’s) era and had a nice twist of a female private eye. I really loved the imagery, the spot-on settings, and it was a great story. I really enjoyed the novel.