Review: Delightful gumshoe tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2014
Sam Spade, I mean Maggie Sullivan is a delightful gutsy old-school gumshoe dick, I mean dame, who is a super sleuth in a rough and tumble man's world of ace detectives. No Miss Marple, Miss Maggie is a new breed of sleuth with plenty of moxie; she can slug it out with the best of them--at the risk of almost losing her PI license.The story is set during the Depression era, but Miss Maggie investigates a cold case--a man's disappearance during the 1913 flood that ravaged Dayton, Ohio. Many unrelated story threads converge when the mystery of the two spinsters' missing father is finally solved. A thoroughly enjoyable read by a well crafted story by a writer who knows her way around the business end of a vintage typewriter. If you like brusque 1930s style hard-boiled potboilers, you'll enjoy this book.OK, so the story might be more believable if it was dude gumshoe vs. a dame, the dialogue and action is pretty predictable, but it's still an engaging read. Don't Dare a Dame is the third story in the Maggie Sullivan series. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of M. Ruth Myers' books. I also highly recommend her full length book, Whiskey Tide. Three point five stars, if I could award it. But I'm feeling generous after reading a spate of ho-hum ebooks.