Murder Me for Nickels / Benny Muscles In
*Starred Review*   Rabe wrote pulps but with a style and sense of adventure that belied the lurid paperback covers. And though his quality varied during his short but prolific writing career, his best books--with surprising points of view, settings, and plots--were terrific.The Box/Journey into Terror[BKL Mr 15 04] was a fine one-two combo, and this one is like a jab leading to a knockout punch. InMurder Me for Nickels, Jack St. Louis is a wiseacre with an eye for the ladies and an ear for well-played jazz. The right-hand man of a jukebox kingpin, he finds himself taking shots from all sides when another mob tries to take over his boss' turf.Benny Muscles Inseems to start out as a hoodlum Horatio Alger tale, then takes a tire-squealing left as Benny Tapkow, a never-say-die comer who kidnaps his former boss' daughter to ingratiate himself with a rival gangster, instead develops a complicated relationship with the girl. WhereMurderfeatures hilariously deadpan humor and film-worthy banter,Bennydelivers tooth-grinding tension in a classic noir milieu. It's a crime that Rabe isn't better known.Keir GraffCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved