Review: a great sleuth novel with a smart lady PI
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2014
Don’t Dare a Dame by M. Ruth Myers was fun to read. This is a sleuth novel that pulled me in, involved me without my realizing it, although I was thinking about the story when I couldn’t be reading it.This is a mystery told in the voice of private investigator, Maggie Sullivan, who has intelligence, heart, courage, and determination. She takes the reader on a delightful journey – tense at times, loaded with clues and hints and glorious details and trails and situations. And surprises. And drama.Set in the 1930′s to 1940′s, Don’t Dare a Dame starts with Maggie saying: Two old maids who wanted to hire me had asked me to tea, so I’d treated my nails to a fresh coat of raspberry pink and put on a hat that matched and a Smith & Wesson that didn’t. This shows the reader right away that here is a woman who likes looking like a woman but who takes her job seriously and is ready to do business at any time.Maggie finds herself investigating the decades-old disappearance of a man, unsure if she will find anything at all regarding that mystery since she suspects all clues would likely be gone by then. Through her curiosity, compassion, determination, and her skill as a private eye, she uncovers more than she first imagined could be connected. In so doing, she upsets some respected people and endangers not only herself but her clients.Don’t Dare a Dame by M. Ruth Myers is a good story that keeps the reader interested. There’s some swearing but it is not over the top.Don’t Dare a Dame is the third book in the Maggie Sullivan mysteries. If this is the genre you enjoy, judging by this volume it would be well worth your while to read the whole series.