Shakedown: A Joe Puma Mystery

by William Campbell Gault

Joe Puma, though not the killer of Albert Target, finds the pimp's demise convenient. Target, a small-time criminal, had recruited aspiring actresses and previously lied to protect Puma. The detective fears Target might change his story. Although the police suspect Puma's corruption, they lack evidence. A smooth operator with a quick trigger and flexible morals, Puma will need these traits for his next case. Actress Jean Roland, stunning and desperate, hires Puma for a risky blackmail scheme. Puma, who values money, life, and women, is drawn to Roland. He'd risk everything for her, but prefers others take the fall.

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

William Campbell Gault (1910–1995) was a critically acclaimed pulp novelist. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he took seven years to graduate from high school. Though he was part of a juvenile gang, he wrote poetry in his spare time, signing it with a girl’s name lest one of his friends find it. He sold his first story in 1936, and built a great career writing for pulps like Paris Nights, Scarlet Adventures, and the infamous Black Mask. In 1939, Gault quit his job and started writing fulltime.

When the success of his pulps began to fade in the 1950s, Gault turned to longer fiction, winning an Edgar Award for his first mystery, Don’t Cry for Me (1952), which he wrote in twenty-eight days. He created private detectives Brock Callahan and Joe Puma, and also wrote juvenile sports books like Cut-Rate Quarterback (1977) and Wild Willie, Wide Receiver (1974). His final novel was Dead Pigeon (1992), a Brock Callahan mystery.


Series:
* Brock 'The Rock' Callahan
* Joe Puma

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakedown was the very first of Gault's Joe Puma novels, but it has very little to do with the other Joe Puma novels. It seems likely that Gault simply reused the name Joe Puma for his new private eye five years later in End of a Call Girl.

Shakedown is nasty and hardboiled with almost no soft edges. The Joe Puma here is capable of just about anything and little more than a crook, a conman, a conniver, a backstabber, a pimp, a tough guy, a blackmailer, and a witness tamperer. It is the story of a rotten unsentimental guy who thinks he knows a way out a frame up and has no loyalty to anyone. It's a narrative told by a tough guy operator from his perspective and it works real well as a hardboiled story.

[DOLLY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prodigious job in developing the characters.

[Jim Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak combination of mystery, noir and hard-boiled detective. Joe Puma was unlikable and I didn't feel any sympathy for the things that happened to him because of his greed.