Dead Dames Don't Sing

by John Harvey

Ex-cop Jack Kiley is bored, and his work as a PI, tailing cheating spouses and investigating insurance claims, offers little to be excited about. That is, until the day he’s asked to meet with Daniel Pike, a rare book dealer who’s received an exclusive offer on a suspicious but intriguing item: an unpublished pulp crime novel by a minor but highly collectable Modernist poet. If Kiley can determine the origin of the text, Pike can verify its authenticity. To do so will mean navigating the tangled threads of jealousy and deceit surrounding the poet’s estate, and solving a mystery with roots reaching back to the Bohemian Soho of mid-twentieth century London—all things that Kiley is capable of doing. But as the would-be seller grows increasingly impatient, threatening to put the manuscript up for auction, it becomes clear that the offer has an expiration date, and he must rush to discover the truth before it’s too late.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Crime, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2016

About the author

aka Jon Barton, William S. Brady (with Angus Wells), L.J. Coburn (with Laurence James), J.B. Dancer (with Angus Wells), John B. Harvey, William M. James (with Terry Harknett and Laurence James), Terry Lennox, John J. McLaglen (with Laurence James), James Mann, Thom Ryder, J.D. Sandon (with Angus Wells), Jon Hart

John Harvey (born 21 December 1938 in London) is a British author of crime fiction most famous for his series of jazz-influenced Charlie Resnick novels, based in the City of Nottingham. Harvey has also published over 90 books under various names, and has worked on scripts for TV and radio. He also ran Slow Dancer Press from 1977 to 1999 publishing poetry. The first Resnick novel, Lonely Hearts, was published in 1989, and was named by The Times as one of the 100 Greatest Crime Novels of the Century. Harvey brought the series to an end in 1998 with Last Rites, though Resnick has since made peripheral appearances in Harvey's new Frank Elder series. The protagonist Elder is a retired detective who now lives, as Harvey briefly did, in Cornwall. The first novel in this series, Flesh and Blood, won Harvey the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger in 2004, an accolade many crime fiction critics thought long overdue. In 2007 he was awarded the Diamond Dagger for a Lifetime's Contribution to the genre. On 14th July 2009 he received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Nottingham in recognition of his literary eminence and his associations with both the University and Nottingham (particularly in the Charlie Resnick novels). He is also a big Notts County fan.

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulp Provenance Pursuit - Bibliomysteries #32
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook (May 2, 2017) of the Mysterious Press hardcover & paperback (August 20, 2016).

Ex-cop / now private investigator Jack Kiley is asked to determine the authenticity of a pulp crime novel manuscript which was supposedly written by a famous poet but shelved before it was published.

This is more about the uncovering of a potential scam than it is a mystery about a "deadly book", which is the theme of the Bibliomysteries series. The pulp atmosphere with the detective, a possible femme fatale, the bohemian life etc. were otherwise well done though.

Trivia and Links
John Harvey (1938-) is a British writer of over 90+ crime and mystery novels, many of them published under pseudonyms. He is primarily known as the author of the Charlie Resnick (1989-2014) series. His most popular book (based on the number of GR ratings and reviews) is the first of that series Lonely Hearts (1989).

The Bibliomysteries series are short stories commissioned by Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Press to be written around the theme of deadly books. They are individually published in limited edition signed hardcovers followed by paperbacks and ebooks, and periodically collected in anthology editions such as Bibliomysteries (2013, containing stories 1-15) and Bibliomysteries: Volume Two (2018, containing stories 16-30). There does not appear to be a Goodreads Listopia for them, but on Library Thing the current listing (as of early-October 2024) includes 41 short stories Note that there is a double count of #33 and that book #41 isn't numbered yet in that list.

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story, but it was not mystery enough for me.

[Gabriela Galescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, not remarkable

Pleasant reading. One can tell John Harvey can write. One can also wonder if this was commissioned work. Nothing wrong with it, but it reads like a made-to-order piece of writing. Not a lot of sparkle to it.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting process

Very nice piece establishing the Provenance of an unpublished pulp novel. The novel is to be offered for sale by the writer's youngest daughter if the authenticity can be established. Is she lying or telling the truth. Well done.

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable short story

This short story in the bibliomystery series is an ok read but anti climatic
an old manuscript of a 1950's detective story written by a then struggling poet has
P.I. Jack Kiley doing circles around his daughters and an anxious publisher

[Adelaide McIntyre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring, no real mystery

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

[S.T. Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining little novella.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short story

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard-boiled bibliomystery? Somehow it works.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, kinda boring and didn't offer much. But it was short

[Jayson]

Review to come...