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PI Johnny Amsterdam Mystery #2
I like it cool
Bruising Manhattan PI Johnny Amsterdam finds a twisty link between a debauched artist, a Hollywood glamour girl, a beatnik singer, and murder.
When popular cartoonist Lawrence Lariar decided to moonlight as a mystery writer, creating comic book artist turned amateur sleuth Homer Bull was a natural. From the 1940s through the 1960s, Lariar continued to switch from sketching caricatures to sketchy characters, writing hardboiled crime fiction under his own name as well as the pseudonyms Michael Stark, Adam Knight, Michael Lawrence, and Marston La France, and creating a series of memorable gumshoes. Now his classic whodunits are available as ebooks.
Johnny Amsterdam is up to his neck in trouble when he says yes to the sister of a war buddy. Sandra Tyson, a real-gone headliner at a Village dive, is in a panic over her friend Helen. The recently relocated fashion model, na�ve to the ways of the Big Apple--and all its lecherous worms--was found beaten and brutalized in her apartment.
The investigation takes an even nastier turn when Sandra's estranged father, wealthy King of the Comic Strips, enters the fringe. Sandra's been wanting her deserved share of his fortune, and she was in cahoots with Helen to get it. When daddy-o is murdered, Amsterdam has to find out who among the richnik's circle of sycophants, bodyguards, rivals--or long-lost relatives--did it.
All the private dick knows for sure is that there are more motives to murder than money, and the victims in this case have as many secrets as the suspects.
I Like It Cool is the 2nd book in the PI Johnny Amsterdam Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
When popular cartoonist Lawrence Lariar decided to moonlight as a mystery writer, creating comic book artist turned amateur sleuth Homer Bull was a natural. From the 1940s through the 1960s, Lariar continued to switch from sketching caricatures to sketchy characters, writing hardboiled crime fiction under his own name as well as the pseudonyms Michael Stark, Adam Knight, Michael Lawrence, and Marston La France, and creating a series of memorable gumshoes. Now his classic whodunits are available as ebooks.
Johnny Amsterdam is up to his neck in trouble when he says yes to the sister of a war buddy. Sandra Tyson, a real-gone headliner at a Village dive, is in a panic over her friend Helen. The recently relocated fashion model, na�ve to the ways of the Big Apple--and all its lecherous worms--was found beaten and brutalized in her apartment.
The investigation takes an even nastier turn when Sandra's estranged father, wealthy King of the Comic Strips, enters the fringe. Sandra's been wanting her deserved share of his fortune, and she was in cahoots with Helen to get it. When daddy-o is murdered, Amsterdam has to find out who among the richnik's circle of sycophants, bodyguards, rivals--or long-lost relatives--did it.
All the private dick knows for sure is that there are more motives to murder than money, and the victims in this case have as many secrets as the suspects.
I Like It Cool is the 2nd book in the PI Johnny Amsterdam Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
144 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1960
About the author
Michael Lawrence
263 books41 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 13, 2026
in 1960’s “I Like it Cool,” Lariar, writing as Michael Lawrence, again returns to his beatnik themed detective stories. This time the cover screams that private eye Johnny Amsterdam is the “eye with a beard” and that he “squares off with the world of the beatniks.” The blurb, however, might be better placed on other Lariar books, but not this one, which really doesn’t involve any beatniks.
Lariar, who is primarily known as a cartoonist, focuses this case on a highly regarded cartoonist and his in-home staff. The setup for the novel is a bit roundabout, starting with Sandra Tyson, an old flame, and nightclub singer, asking to speak with Amsterdam alone without his partner. Sandra explains she has a missing persons case, her friend Helen Tate. Sandra’s parents divorced with her estranged father going on to becoming the King of Cartoons based on his Jeff Noble character, but when Sandra’s mother died, Sandra found documents proving her mother actually created the character. Sandra had sent the documents, which could be the basis of a multimillion dollar lawsuit with Helen, who is now missing. Unfortunately, when Amsterdam and his partner find Helen, the homicide detectives are already there.
Sandra assumes her father arranged for Helen’s near murder and has it out with him. But none of that seems to matter for the rest of the novel which focuses on her father’s murder and the various suspects who could have done it.
Lariar, who is primarily known as a cartoonist, focuses this case on a highly regarded cartoonist and his in-home staff. The setup for the novel is a bit roundabout, starting with Sandra Tyson, an old flame, and nightclub singer, asking to speak with Amsterdam alone without his partner. Sandra explains she has a missing persons case, her friend Helen Tate. Sandra’s parents divorced with her estranged father going on to becoming the King of Cartoons based on his Jeff Noble character, but when Sandra’s mother died, Sandra found documents proving her mother actually created the character. Sandra had sent the documents, which could be the basis of a multimillion dollar lawsuit with Helen, who is now missing. Unfortunately, when Amsterdam and his partner find Helen, the homicide detectives are already there.
Sandra assumes her father arranged for Helen’s near murder and has it out with him. But none of that seems to matter for the rest of the novel which focuses on her father’s murder and the various suspects who could have done it.
October 27, 2023
Johnny Amsterdam is a detective with a beard, and that meant something in the 1950's. Despite the cover blurb, the beard is mentioned exactly once, and the detective is no different than dozens of others in that time period.
The mystery itself does set itself apart by having the victim be a big time comic strip creator. The author could have done more with the concept, but he was busy describing dizzy dames, of the type that proliferated during Jayne Mansfield's heyday.
No more than standard.
The mystery itself does set itself apart by having the victim be a big time comic strip creator. The author could have done more with the concept, but he was busy describing dizzy dames, of the type that proliferated during Jayne Mansfield's heyday.
No more than standard.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews