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Mac #2
Every Bet's a Sure Thing
Thomas B. Dewey. Every Bet's a Sure Thing. New York: Simon and Schuster, [1953]. First edition, first printing. Octavo. 237 pages. Publisher's binding and dust jacket.
- GenresFiction
237 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 1953
About the author
Thomas B. Dewey
86 books9 followersThomas Blanchard Dewey was an American author of hardboiled crime novels. He created two series of novels: the first one features Mac, a private investigator from Chicago, the second features Pete Schofield.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 6, 2020
Dewey’s Mac detective series is one of the best of the pulp-era private eye series, and unfortunately is not as widely known as it should be. Mac is a tough-nosed ex-cop out of Chicago. He is no-nonsense and bit sentimental when it comes to people in trouble. This is the second book in the sixteen-book series that was published between 1947 and 1970, a period of some 23 years when much happened in the world to put it simply.
Every Bet’s A Sure Thing (1953) is a real early book in the series. It is smoothly written and is a real quick read like all the books in this series. Here, Mac is assigned a rather unusual tail job where he has to follow a woman with two kids on a cross-country train ride to Los Angeles and is never to let her out of his sight. A strange but simple task, but he has to do it without being spotted for the private eye that he is. Hide in plain sight is the name of the game on the moving train and he befriends the woman’s six-year-old son. Dewey is such a good writer that even the details of the mundane tasks of tailing someone are worth reading about.
Every Bet’s A Sure Thing (1953) is a real early book in the series. It is smoothly written and is a real quick read like all the books in this series. Here, Mac is assigned a rather unusual tail job where he has to follow a woman with two kids on a cross-country train ride to Los Angeles and is never to let her out of his sight. A strange but simple task, but he has to do it without being spotted for the private eye that he is. Hide in plain sight is the name of the game on the moving train and he befriends the woman’s six-year-old son. Dewey is such a good writer that even the details of the mundane tasks of tailing someone are worth reading about.
November 12, 2015
This is the second book in the Dewey's Detective series starring Mac, the hard-boiled PI. In this one Mac picks up a quick contract with a Detective Agency to keep an eye on a woman and her two young children on a cross country train trip to Los Angeles. This turns out to be more complex than it seems, with murders, double crosses, and dark family secrets revealed. I like Dewey's writing and his plotting. Looking forward to book 3 in the series.
August 16, 2025
Every Bet's a Sure Thing: Mac Detective Series #2 by Thomas B. Dewey (1953, 176 pgs Kindle edition) is a pretty good adventure/thriller staring Private Investigator Mac. Lot's to like here, a solid story from beginning to end, an exciting train ride from Chicago to Los Angles, plenty of good & bad guys...over all it was a fun read. Only negative is there was too many undefined side characters so it was hard to keep track of them all...And...The story was definitely dated...3.0 outta 5.0...
February 25, 2018
I don't understand...
Why this author hasn't the fame, reputation he deserves. Far and away better than those who've become virtual household names.
Discovered this fella by accident. This is the third in this particular series and the third I've read. I've already purchased a few more.
" Mac, " the protagonist (no last name) has been created from a different mold. The best example is an injury Mac sustains being forced at gunpoint from a moving train. Rolling down a steep decline he seriously sprains his ankle.
Unlike nearly every other detective writer, Dewey has Mac hobbling, stumbling, crawling and in a lot of pain through the rest of the book. No instant cure. Mac is very human. Nothing magical, I.e., sure he's saved here and there. What private cop isn't? How could they not be?
Give this guy a chance. I'm a very particular reader. I wouldn't finish anything that hasn't got IT! These have it, in spades!
Have a good read.
Why this author hasn't the fame, reputation he deserves. Far and away better than those who've become virtual household names.
Discovered this fella by accident. This is the third in this particular series and the third I've read. I've already purchased a few more.
" Mac, " the protagonist (no last name) has been created from a different mold. The best example is an injury Mac sustains being forced at gunpoint from a moving train. Rolling down a steep decline he seriously sprains his ankle.
Unlike nearly every other detective writer, Dewey has Mac hobbling, stumbling, crawling and in a lot of pain through the rest of the book. No instant cure. Mac is very human. Nothing magical, I.e., sure he's saved here and there. What private cop isn't? How could they not be?
Give this guy a chance. I'm a very particular reader. I wouldn't finish anything that hasn't got IT! These have it, in spades!
Have a good read.
September 21, 2026
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Thomas B. Dewey's private eye Mac returns for more action in a superior mystery than the first, as Mac trails a woman and her small children from Chicago to Los Angeles into a nasty web of violence.
Lieutenant Donovan recommended Mac for the job with the International Agency, who sent him all expenses paid on the Los Angeles Limited. He was to follow Harriett Mitchell, her six-year-old son Roger, and three-year-old daughter without being detected. The last operative was discovered and shot dead in the street. He befriends little Roger on the journey, the two playing cards to pass the time, and Harriett, a thin, mousy woman bitterly escaping a dangerous husband, who puts her faith in Mac when she discovers the cargo she is unknowingly carrying. At the halfway point, Mac's trail is made by a henchman who physically throws him off the train, into the black rush of air, doubling over with a sprained ankle when he hits the ground. Somehow, he must make it back to the train in Las Vegas, where a doctor continually shoots his ankle with novocaine so he can keep going. In California, Mac is unable to hand the case over to local operatives when the children are kidnapped for ransom. He works with a twitching junkie to explore the dark alleys of Los Angeles, the cheap bars, and burlesque houses, where a drug kingpin is calling the shots. He also runs into wealthy Mr. London and his wife, Mrs. London, who know much more than she is willing to tell and likes to control the situation with a whip.
This second entry in the series has more emotional heart, as Mac befriends the children and will put it all on the line for them. This is a nasty web of lies and double-crosses, a superior private eye mystery in a series I want to seek out. It's two days of grinding vigilance and street smarts, but you can bet Mac will find justice if he has to tear Los Angeles apart. And with enough money, every bet's a sure thing.
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for over 1000 book reviews in all genres
Thomas B. Dewey's private eye Mac returns for more action in a superior mystery than the first, as Mac trails a woman and her small children from Chicago to Los Angeles into a nasty web of violence.
Lieutenant Donovan recommended Mac for the job with the International Agency, who sent him all expenses paid on the Los Angeles Limited. He was to follow Harriett Mitchell, her six-year-old son Roger, and three-year-old daughter without being detected. The last operative was discovered and shot dead in the street. He befriends little Roger on the journey, the two playing cards to pass the time, and Harriett, a thin, mousy woman bitterly escaping a dangerous husband, who puts her faith in Mac when she discovers the cargo she is unknowingly carrying. At the halfway point, Mac's trail is made by a henchman who physically throws him off the train, into the black rush of air, doubling over with a sprained ankle when he hits the ground. Somehow, he must make it back to the train in Las Vegas, where a doctor continually shoots his ankle with novocaine so he can keep going. In California, Mac is unable to hand the case over to local operatives when the children are kidnapped for ransom. He works with a twitching junkie to explore the dark alleys of Los Angeles, the cheap bars, and burlesque houses, where a drug kingpin is calling the shots. He also runs into wealthy Mr. London and his wife, Mrs. London, who know much more than she is willing to tell and likes to control the situation with a whip.
This second entry in the series has more emotional heart, as Mac befriends the children and will put it all on the line for them. This is a nasty web of lies and double-crosses, a superior private eye mystery in a series I want to seek out. It's two days of grinding vigilance and street smarts, but you can bet Mac will find justice if he has to tear Los Angeles apart. And with enough money, every bet's a sure thing.
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May 8, 2021
Unusually, the cover art does show a scene from the book...and this is not the worst of the situations that the likeable Chicago PI "Mac" finds himself in at the end of an eventful train ride to California.
There is plenty of hardboiled action, along with tough guys, drug dealing and kidnap to keep the readers' attention in this second outing, which also features a woman and children trying to escape an abusive relationship.
Again this is well-written with crisp dialogue and a lot of good people to restore one's faith in humanity.
Recommended.
3.5 stars.
There is plenty of hardboiled action, along with tough guys, drug dealing and kidnap to keep the readers' attention in this second outing, which also features a woman and children trying to escape an abusive relationship.
Again this is well-written with crisp dialogue and a lot of good people to restore one's faith in humanity.
Recommended.
3.5 stars.
May 3, 2025
I read the fourth book in this series, Mean Streets, before this second one. I’d found that one because the author was described as a bridge between Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. I could only sorta see that in Mean Streets (although I liked it), but I can begin to grasp that comparison more fully in Every Bet’s a Sure Thing.
Worthwhile for sure. I’ll be reading more Mac novels by Dewey.
See also: the (criminally unknown) Jim Bennett series by Robert Martin.
Worthwhile for sure. I’ll be reading more Mac novels by Dewey.
See also: the (criminally unknown) Jim Bennett series by Robert Martin.
January 28, 2013
keep you on the edge, suspense detective novel. Love this author!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews