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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I like a good mystery, and this book was very enjoyable!
Fun easy read
It was like reading a film noir in book form. A great quick read
Really couldn’t get into this book very slow
Edgy, resourceful female detective. Didn’t want to,put it down.
A well written noir mystery with a female lead. Very enjoyable. Highly recommend.
The language from the prohibition days was just a little too backwards for me…
So this is what it is like to be an African-American princess?! Funny. Some of it is probably fantastic but the other parts are dead serious. Deep characters show bias at its worst.
great olde timey detecting
A bit trite and cliched. A noir 40’s style hard boiled dectective story trying too hard. Still got some laughs.
Clever and engrossing. A female Sam Spade! Picture Kinsey Millhone in the 1930’s. Great period detail and a spunky heroine.
Great new series with a fun heroine.
I wasn’t sure that I was going to like this book, but after a few pages I was sucked in!
Author set the story in a bygone era and it didn’t quite hit the mark.
Hard boiled story with a woman detective. Fun read.
Fun to read, but not much depth.
It’s like an old Mickey spillage mystery only with a woman detective. I did enjoy it, it was like going back to my teens in the 60s when I was an avid fan of this type of book.
Enjoyed it start to finish.
Bought her next book in the series.
It ended rather abruptly, but it was still enjoyable.
Not memorable, but good for those sleepless nights.