Way of a Wanton

Shell Scott #7

by Richard S. Prather

Shell Scott. He’s a guy with a pistol in his pocket and murder on his mind. The crime world’s public enemy number one, this Casanova is a sucker for a damsel in distress. When a pair of lovely legs saunters into his office, he can’t help but take the job, even when the case is a killer. Sherry is Lady Luck in the flesh. Her figures, 36-22-35, are Shell’s favorites, and this time they may add up to murder. Two-to-one says this beautiful broad is involved in a shady deal, but Shell likes playing the odds. Somebody is trying kill the ladies’ favorite private dick, but Shell still hasn’t pulled that final card from his sleeve. Let it ride, dealer; I’ve got Lady Luck on my side.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Richard Scott Prather was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.

Prather was born in Santa Ana, California. He served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. In 1945 year he married Tina Hager and began working as a civilian chief clerk of surplus property at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California. He left that job to become a full-time writer in 1949. The first Shell Scott mystery, 'Case of the Vanishing Beauty' was published in 1950. It would be the start of a long series that numbered more than three dozen titles featuring the Shell Scott character.

Prather had a disagreement with his publisher in the 1970s and sued them in 1975. He gave up writing for several years and grew avocados. However in 1986 he returned with 'The Amber Effect'. Prather's final book, 'Shellshock', was published in hardcover in 1987 by Tor Books.

At the time of his death in 2007, he had completed his final Shell Scott Mystery novel, 'The Death Gods'. It was published October 2011 by Pendleton Artists.

Prather served twice on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. Additionally Prather received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1986.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Way of a Wanton, the Shell Scott mystery series moves back to Southern California, but in this one, Shell never seems to set foot in his office. He begins at a Hollywood party in the hills and gives us readers a real sense of how sleazy Hollywood is. You get a wild party with the apparent goal to get the buxom secretaries to skinny dip in the pool. But the real sleaze is when the producers and directors threaten to have Scott beaten to a pulp when he wants to report a murder to the police and they are afraid of getting bad publicity from a corpse being found at the wild party. But there’s no one left behind. In this expose of the values lacking in Hollywood as Prather even exposes the young Dot willing to do anything for Scott till she finds out he’s no one in Hollywood and then loses interest just like that. And Scott nearly loses it when he is talked about in the gossip columns.


It wouldn’t be a typical Scott story without a few romances to spin his head though from Helen, the star of the forthcoming picture Jungle Girl, who keeps getting frustrated when Shell leaves her hanging as he runs out to do business, to Sherry, the young secretary whose life Scott has to keep saving.

Of course there’s a murder to investigate and Scott is on the case, but the heart and soul of the story is about Hollywood.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: PI Shell Scott
SETTING: Los Angeles
SERIES: 5
RATING: 3.25
WHY: PI Shell Scott is invited to a party by his friend, Raul Evans. The attendees are all associate with Raul’s latest picture, Jungle Girl. The fun ends when the body of a young woman is found in the pool. Of course, Shell is hired to find her killer. There’s a lot at stake for the movie which is running over budget. Entertaining enough but it takes getting used to the 1950s sexist attitudes.

[Martin Furst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sedmá kniha s hollywoodským soukromým očkem Shell Scottem. Shell se vrací zpátky domů a to rovnou na večírek hollywoodského producenta béčkových filmů. Zatímco si užívá party obklopen krásnými a ještě krásnějšími ženami, objeví se mrtvola v bazénu. Shell se vrhne do vyšetřování vraždy sekretářky protivného producenta. Jak je u Scotta obvyklé, během vyšetřování potká několik žádostivých krasavic, tupé hvězdy béčkových filmů a nepříjemné producenty, scénáristy a bulvární reportéry. Oproti předchozím dílům je příběh sevřenější. Vyšetřuje se jedna vražda, necestuje se nikam mimo L.A a postav v příběhu je tak akorát, aby se čtenář neztratil, ale trochu se musel namáhat s odhalením pachatele. Přibylo akce a ubylo oblečení (nudistickým večírkem počínaje a koupáním v jezeře s následnou naháněčkou na place filmového natáčení konče). Samotné odhalení pachatele není sice obzvlášť překvapivé, ale o překvapení a vodění čtenáře za nos u Shella Scotta nikdy nešlo. Hlavní silou Shella byl vždy humor, hlášky a flirtování se sexy krasavicemi a toho se dočkáme v míře více než vrchovaté.
Way of a wanton je vtipné, svižné a ve všech směrech zábavné dílo, které vám vylepší náladu i na pár dní potom co knížku dočtete. Zatím nejlepší díl z celé série.

[Gordie LaChance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty standard fun hardboiled detective novel featuring series dick Shell Scott, who is a guest at a Hollywood party when a body is discovered in the host's pool.

This is a fast paced yarn with some fun characters. The plot is nothing special but it's a fun ride.

From 1952, the book is certainly dated but in an interesting way--it's always fun to look back at different periods and observe the culture, fashion, etc.

The tone of the novel is fairly light-hearted with a decent dash of humor. Scott is a fairly typical detective of the era--he ends up in bed with at least one beautiful woman in each of his novels, is handy with his fists and his gun and has smart remarks ready for his adversaries.

This is perhaps a bit of a fluffy read I had a blast with it.

[SB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Shell of this year's 4th trip. This was another fun one, with Shell discovering a dead body in a pool at a Hollywood pre-filming movie party. Unlike the other Shell's I've read, there's no syndicate or major crime involvement... just a Hollywood writer who killed his secretary because she was pregnant with his baby and was going to reveal he was a plagiarist. So the stakes seemed lower than normal, because the dude really wasn't matched to stand against Scott.

Also, I can't remember if it was this book or one of the short stories in Shell's Seven Slaughters, but in one or the other Shell discovers major plot details because he talks to the secretary of a shady lawyer who knew about the shady lawyer's business dealings because he had her type up the shady contract. Pretty amusing.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shell Scott, Los Angeles answer to Mike Hammer, is offered stock in a movie to solve the murder of one of the studio's secretaries.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second visit to Shell Scott land in more than ten years. This book was good and a good mystery but gets a bit confusing while lining up a twist in the story. Prather slips here trying to put all of the characters where they need to be for the story. I'd get in more details but would give the rest away.

Otherwise this Los Angeles based series takes in Hollywood and the entertainment world. The set settings are a bit much and don't really add much to the story.

Bottom line: I ecommend this book. 6 out of ten points.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: when a pair of lovely legs saunter into his office, Shell Scott couldn't help himself; he had to take the case.