Due Or Die

Johnny Liddell #17

by Frank Kane

Las Palmas was built on the Nevada desert, ruled over by The Boys, a collection of hoods who couldn't go home. A killer was on the loose, without permission, and Johnny Liddell was called in to teach him some manners-for $10,000!

Of course money wouldn't keep you off the slab and it didn't take Johnny long to realize he was being set up for the next kill.

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1961

About the author

Frank Kane, Brooklyn-born and a lifetime New Yorker, worked for many years in journalism and corporate public relations before shifting to fiction writing. At the time he was selling crime stories to the pulps he was also sustaining a career writing scripts for such radio shows as Gangbusters and The Shadow.

In addition to the Johnny Liddells, Kane wrote several suspense novels, some softcore erotica, and (under the pen name of Frank Boyd) "Johnny Staccato", a Gold Medal original paperback based on the short-lived noir television series, starring John Cassavetes, about a Greenwich Village bebop pianist turned private detective.

Reviews

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Due or Die" is a solid 1950s Hardboiled PI story, fast paced and well plotted. People describe Kane's "Johnny Liddell" books as generic and competent thrillers, and I suppose thats pretty accurate, at least for this book, which is the only one in the series that I've read. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another Liddell book when looking for a quick read in the Hardboiled PI genre.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel takes Liddell from his familiar New York haunts to Las a Palmas (a thinly disguised Las Vegas), and it's a fifties-era Las Vegas owned and controlled by the Mob. Throw in a corrupt sheriff and his violently abusive minions. Add a sexy redheaded torch singer. And bodies turning up. And you've got a top-notch fun novel.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

P.I. Johnny Liddell got the job offer from a most agreeable source. Beautiful redheaded singer Lee Loomis. Mobster "Fat Mike" Klein, who Johnny knew from the old days, needed help in Las Palmas, a small Nevada city where the gambling joints were controlled by aging mobsters, no longer the hard men they'd once been. The deal was $10,000 to find the killer, half now, half when the job was done.

They didn't dare let New York know what had happened. The remaining five knew the vultures were already out there and they didn't dare let anyone know that a hit had gone down without their knowledge.

But Johnny arrived too late. Fat Mike had been murdered as well, shot down in his car on the side of the road. The remaining four showed Johnny the note all had received promising each would be killed unless they ponied up a million dollars. With each death, the share went up for the others.

They wanted Johnny to simply deliver the money. The two deaths had been covered up, the first a heart attack, the body quickly cremated, and Fat Mike had committed suicide, the body to be buried as soon as possible.

Johnny didn't like that. Fat Mike had not been a particular friend, but he'd accepted the job and he was loathe to quit before he got it done.

Tom Regan, the police chief, was as crooked as the mobsters, in their pocket, and was no help. Despite his bosses agreement, he seemed determined to impede the investigation.

Johnny plugs away, avoiding beatings, dodging frame-ups, and questioning anyone and everyone.

He thinks he has it figured out. Now all he has to do is prove it before being killed.

Enjoyed this one. Johnny Liddell appeared in 29 novels and numerous short stories(Kane claimed four hundred in a letter, though his granddaughter thought that an exaggeration).

[Jure · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pace is relentless and there are numerous scenes that either doesn't make much sense or their timing is off or some details simply don't add up logically when you stop to think about them. But the trick is that the reader doesn't stop to think about them.

Cool and entertaining stuff. I just wish I didn't have to end with one of those silly but almost mandatory suspects roundups...

More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2017/01/d...

[Heath Lowrance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly written Johnny Liddell private eye story, which takes our wise-guy detective to Las Palmas at the request of a gangster in fear for his life. Johnny arrives just as his client is murdered; someone is killing off the gambling town's top dogs. Even though he no longer has a mandate for being there (and the crooked law is trying to force him out), Johnny takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of the case.

DUE OR DIE is a quick, fun read, which was something Frank Kane excelled at, but it's nothing that's going to stick to your ribs. That's okay, though. The book delivers what it promises.