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Maggie Sullivan Mysteries #1
No Game For a Dame
A .38, a nip of gin and sensational legs get Depression-era private investigator Maggie Sullivan out of most scrapes – until a stranger threatens to bust her nose, she’s hauled in on suspicion of his murder and she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a crime boss with connections at City Hall.
Moving through streets where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a ragged newsboy; the other career girls at her rooming house.
Her digging gets her chloroformed and left in a ditch behind the wheel of her DeSoto. She makes her way to an upscale bordello and gets tea – and information – from the madam herself.
A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer.
If you like Robert B. Parker's hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don't miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats -- but seldom a Smith & Wesson.
Moving through streets where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a ragged newsboy; the other career girls at her rooming house.
Her digging gets her chloroformed and left in a ditch behind the wheel of her DeSoto. She makes her way to an upscale bordello and gets tea – and information – from the madam herself.
A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer.
If you like Robert B. Parker's hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don't miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats -- but seldom a Smith & Wesson.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 28, 2011
1691 people are currently reading
2344 people want to read
About the author
M. Ruth Myers
30 books190 followersM. Ruth Myers is a Shamus Award winning mystery writer. Her Maggie Sullivan mystery series features a private eye in Dayton, Ohio in the years 1938-1946.
Other novels by the author, who has also written as Mary Ruth Myers, have been translated, optioned for television and condensed in Good Housekeeping. They also have been used in college classes in Japan. She has taught at writers’ conferences across the country including the Antioch, Cape Cod and Mark Twain conferences.
Myers was born in Warrensburg, MO. When she was nine the family moved to Wyoming where she graduated from Cheyenne Central High School. After earning a Bachelor of Journalism degree at the University of Missouri J-School she worked as a reporter and feature writer on daily papers in Michigan and Ohio.
She and her husband are long-time Ohio residents with one grown daughter.
When not writing or reading, Myers cooks and plays Irish traditional music on an Anglo concertina. She confesses to more enthusiasm than skill.
Other novels by the author, who has also written as Mary Ruth Myers, have been translated, optioned for television and condensed in Good Housekeeping. They also have been used in college classes in Japan. She has taught at writers’ conferences across the country including the Antioch, Cape Cod and Mark Twain conferences.
Myers was born in Warrensburg, MO. When she was nine the family moved to Wyoming where she graduated from Cheyenne Central High School. After earning a Bachelor of Journalism degree at the University of Missouri J-School she worked as a reporter and feature writer on daily papers in Michigan and Ohio.
She and her husband are long-time Ohio residents with one grown daughter.
When not writing or reading, Myers cooks and plays Irish traditional music on an Anglo concertina. She confesses to more enthusiasm than skill.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 353 reviews
May 18, 2012
I am a fan of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and the hard-boiled detective mysteries set in the 1930s and 1940s, which is why I gave Myer's historical mystery, No Game for a Dame, a try. And boy, am I glad I did.
It was such fun to see how the classic themes of this genre played out with a female private eye, Maggie Sullivan, and i was impressed at how absolutely faithful to the historical time and place, late 1930's Dayton, Ohio, the book was. The historical detail was subtle, but spot on, and it gave a richness and authenticity to the book.
No Game for a Dame did a lovely job of portraying the uneasy relationship between Maggie, as a private detective, and the local police, with the added element of paternalism on the part of the older Irish cops, and the book provided an accurate description of the wide variety of jobs that women worked at during the depths of the Great Depression. The mystery was compelling, the secondary characters were fully developed, and the possible romance was just enough to make me want more. All in all, a terrific book, and I can't wait for the next installment.
It was such fun to see how the classic themes of this genre played out with a female private eye, Maggie Sullivan, and i was impressed at how absolutely faithful to the historical time and place, late 1930's Dayton, Ohio, the book was. The historical detail was subtle, but spot on, and it gave a richness and authenticity to the book.
No Game for a Dame did a lovely job of portraying the uneasy relationship between Maggie, as a private detective, and the local police, with the added element of paternalism on the part of the older Irish cops, and the book provided an accurate description of the wide variety of jobs that women worked at during the depths of the Great Depression. The mystery was compelling, the secondary characters were fully developed, and the possible romance was just enough to make me want more. All in all, a terrific book, and I can't wait for the next installment.
March 5, 2016
Abandonned at 60% - I just can't get into this book. It's not badly written or anything and I rather like the noir style and the main character is sassy BUT I'm so bored and a bit confused by the story and just don't really want to spend any more time on it.
May 10, 2017
I'm glad I gave this one a chance because now I'm hooked!
As usual, I perused the one- and two-star reviews on Amazon before I read anything else. The arguments against – characters didn't sound like they were from Ohio, characters sounded like they were from the 1930s – piqued my interest, as characters that don't fit their settings is a peeve of mine. But that latter complaint struck me as a plus because, well, duh, the book is set in the '30s. I wasn't the only one to make that note, and the counter-arguers convinced me to give the book a chance.
Where the naysayers mostly talked characters who didn't sound like them (the naysayers), those arguing against them delved into deeper character assessments and found interest in the level of historical detail seamlessly incorporated into a smoothly written tale. To my delight, Maggie Sullivan really is a smart and feisty woman living at a time when that wasn't necessarily a plus. The daughter of an Irish American cop who died a few years back, she gets herself into and out of trouble frequently over the course of her work, but she's certainly not invulnerable – sometimes she barely rescues herself or clients, and sometimes, she isn't the one doing the rescuing. Fortunately for her, her dad's friends and former colleagues think a lot of her. (Well, that's usually a fortunate thing... when the old flatfoots aren't trying to protect her – which sometimes keeps her from doing her job as well as she could otherwise – that is.)
Maggie is at times impetuous, and she's not unaware of the fact. Her line of work sometimes leaves her weighing prudence and expedience, and Myers makes the struggle appear real. Even when readers might be left shaking their heads over Maggie's choices. But who the heck likes a perfect character, anyway?
Myers set the first story in the Maggie Sullivan series in a series of snapshots of 1930s Dayton, and while I don't enough about that city to say whether her depiction was accurate, it was certainly vivid. The book was peopled with walk-on characters who were filled in just enough not to be cardboard cut-outs while not becoming distractions, either. The people who counted were drawn with more details – at times with just enough to make a reader hope that they'll show up later in the series without feeling cheated that they didn't feature more in this book.
As usual, I perused the one- and two-star reviews on Amazon before I read anything else. The arguments against – characters didn't sound like they were from Ohio, characters sounded like they were from the 1930s – piqued my interest, as characters that don't fit their settings is a peeve of mine. But that latter complaint struck me as a plus because, well, duh, the book is set in the '30s. I wasn't the only one to make that note, and the counter-arguers convinced me to give the book a chance.
Where the naysayers mostly talked characters who didn't sound like them (the naysayers), those arguing against them delved into deeper character assessments and found interest in the level of historical detail seamlessly incorporated into a smoothly written tale. To my delight, Maggie Sullivan really is a smart and feisty woman living at a time when that wasn't necessarily a plus. The daughter of an Irish American cop who died a few years back, she gets herself into and out of trouble frequently over the course of her work, but she's certainly not invulnerable – sometimes she barely rescues herself or clients, and sometimes, she isn't the one doing the rescuing. Fortunately for her, her dad's friends and former colleagues think a lot of her. (Well, that's usually a fortunate thing... when the old flatfoots aren't trying to protect her – which sometimes keeps her from doing her job as well as she could otherwise – that is.)
Maggie is at times impetuous, and she's not unaware of the fact. Her line of work sometimes leaves her weighing prudence and expedience, and Myers makes the struggle appear real. Even when readers might be left shaking their heads over Maggie's choices. But who the heck likes a perfect character, anyway?
Myers set the first story in the Maggie Sullivan series in a series of snapshots of 1930s Dayton, and while I don't enough about that city to say whether her depiction was accurate, it was certainly vivid. The book was peopled with walk-on characters who were filled in just enough not to be cardboard cut-outs while not becoming distractions, either. The people who counted were drawn with more details – at times with just enough to make a reader hope that they'll show up later in the series without feeling cheated that they didn't feature more in this book.
April 15, 2020
Tough cookie
Maggie Sullivan is a tough and intelligent Private Detective. She is more Dick Tracy than Stephanie Plum. She is all business and good at what she does. A 1940 era book with writing that is immersed in the time period. Maggie has been hired to check out a young man by his uncle. There is danger all around but it doesn't deter this PI.
Great writing, continual action in the development of the plot. Characters are well developed in an unremarkable way meaning they are part of the story and never outshine it. I was impressed that the writing stayed in the time period with no accidental leaks from the future.no
I am looking forward to more of the series to take me back in time.
Maggie Sullivan is a tough and intelligent Private Detective. She is more Dick Tracy than Stephanie Plum. She is all business and good at what she does. A 1940 era book with writing that is immersed in the time period. Maggie has been hired to check out a young man by his uncle. There is danger all around but it doesn't deter this PI.
Great writing, continual action in the development of the plot. Characters are well developed in an unremarkable way meaning they are part of the story and never outshine it. I was impressed that the writing stayed in the time period with no accidental leaks from the future.no
I am looking forward to more of the series to take me back in time.
March 8, 2022
I have had this on my kindle for almost a year and finally got through the book, having started and stopped a few times. It is free on amazon for kindle.
Female PI in the 30's doing her best to outwit the bad guys in Dayton OH.
The scheme of robbing people by fiddling with their alarm systems is the task she has to overcome in this first book. How she manages to not get shot during her escapades in wrangling with these dudes is somewhat over the top but also amusing for the most part.
Female PI in the 30's doing her best to outwit the bad guys in Dayton OH.
The scheme of robbing people by fiddling with their alarm systems is the task she has to overcome in this first book. How she manages to not get shot during her escapades in wrangling with these dudes is somewhat over the top but also amusing for the most part.
January 25, 2016
I must say Maggie Sullivan is amazing! Think of her as a sassier, American version of Miss Marple. It's definitely not the best book I've read, but it gave me this warm and fuzzy feeling, so I'm giving it four stars.
March 12, 2012
No Game for a Dame written by M. Ruth Myers is a hard boiled detective novel with a twist. Maggie Sullivan is the detective. Set in the 1930's when women didn't have such occupations, Maggie is often taken for granted. An old friend of her father asked if she was sure this was the kind of work she wanted to do, cause she would have made such a nice teacher. But our detective is all too aware of how men percieve her and uses that knowledge to her advantage. "Crooks and killers set so much store by brawn they overlook gals."
Myers really knows this era, and Dayton, Ohio. One can easily envision the period she writes about.
Maggie is as tough and wisecracking as any male hard boiled detective, and witty as well. But, we see her soft side too, and she maintains her femininity.
Maggie has been hired to check up on her client's nephew who has suddenly become a snappy dresser and flashing more cash than he should have. This leads her to robbery, murder and kidnapping.
With each chapter the suspense builds, as she gets closer and closer to the truth. There are a few twist here and there. The ending is a real thrill and leaves you wanting to read more about Maggie Sullivan. I can't wait for her next adventure.
I purchased this book in ebook format. The print version has 266 pages. The violence is PG. Colorful language was rare, ( only two or three times I think) and there is no SC.
The writing is very good, the story fast paced. Overall a very enjoyable read.
Myers really knows this era, and Dayton, Ohio. One can easily envision the period she writes about.
Maggie is as tough and wisecracking as any male hard boiled detective, and witty as well. But, we see her soft side too, and she maintains her femininity.
Maggie has been hired to check up on her client's nephew who has suddenly become a snappy dresser and flashing more cash than he should have. This leads her to robbery, murder and kidnapping.
With each chapter the suspense builds, as she gets closer and closer to the truth. There are a few twist here and there. The ending is a real thrill and leaves you wanting to read more about Maggie Sullivan. I can't wait for her next adventure.
I purchased this book in ebook format. The print version has 266 pages. The violence is PG. Colorful language was rare, ( only two or three times I think) and there is no SC.
The writing is very good, the story fast paced. Overall a very enjoyable read.
February 26, 2020
Fun mystery set during the Depression in Dayton, Ohio. Maggie Sullivan is a cop's daughter and is one tough cookie. She gets herself into trouble tracking a violent burglary ring. Will she come out on top? Read the book, the first in her series, to find out.
March 10, 2012
This book was offered for free by Amazon so I downloaded it. I had read a couple of reviews beforehand that made it sound like I might enjoy it. The author was unknown to me. It is unlikely I would have purchased this otherwise.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book. This is one of those old-time detective stories . . . dark allies, hit men, and smoking. I got into the story.
Maggie Sullivan is the rough female detective in this Depression-era novel. She's smart, witty, and full of sass. That is what kept my attention. M. Ruth Myers describes scenes and characters quite well. This is an easy and fun book to enjoy.
The story lagged briefly about two-thirds of the way through and then again nearing the end. I didn't find the mystery particularly compelling. It seemed like it was wrapped up quickly. I am used to a more elaborate twist of things in the stories that I love; this was straightforward and not difficult to follow. It was also predictable and didn't take a Robert Goren master-of-all to chain together. That was welcomed.
There were four, as I recall, instances that I recall with typographical errors. As a new Kindle reader, I find these interesting.
Having enjoyed this, I will keep an eye out for the second Maggie Sullivan novel. Apparently Tough Cookie will be out sometime this year. I would read that provided I felt like the price was a bargain.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book. This is one of those old-time detective stories . . . dark allies, hit men, and smoking. I got into the story.
Maggie Sullivan is the rough female detective in this Depression-era novel. She's smart, witty, and full of sass. That is what kept my attention. M. Ruth Myers describes scenes and characters quite well. This is an easy and fun book to enjoy.
The story lagged briefly about two-thirds of the way through and then again nearing the end. I didn't find the mystery particularly compelling. It seemed like it was wrapped up quickly. I am used to a more elaborate twist of things in the stories that I love; this was straightforward and not difficult to follow. It was also predictable and didn't take a Robert Goren master-of-all to chain together. That was welcomed.
There were four, as I recall, instances that I recall with typographical errors. As a new Kindle reader, I find these interesting.
Having enjoyed this, I will keep an eye out for the second Maggie Sullivan novel. Apparently Tough Cookie will be out sometime this year. I would read that provided I felt like the price was a bargain.
November 2, 2013
Take Kinsey Milhone, put her in a time machine and send her back several decades, and you have Maggie Sullivan - a female PI trying to make her way in pre-WW2 Dayton, Ohio. I felt the book had just enough history and cultural references to make it believable and set the time and place, while focusing primarily on the characters and the plot. There was a hint of a romance to come, but the story did not get bogged down by the sexual escapades that seem to fill a lot of current mysteries. Maggie was a fun and interesting character - independent, hard-working, a little foolhardy at times, and loyal to her friends. This was the most enjoyable mystery I have read in a while.
September 11, 2020
This is a hard boiled detective novel set in the late 30s with a twist: the detective is a woman. The daughter of a cop, she's got skills and is tough, but still a woman and relies on slightly different skills to do her job and survive than a guy might.
Maggie Sullivan is hired to check on a businessman's son and presumed heir to see if he's in trouble; the young man has been acting strangely as of late. From this the case goes in different directions and the bodies start to hit the floor.
Maggie is a likable detective, unlike many of the most famous ones. She's tough and ready with a snarky line, but is a decent sort of person and she's unentangled with romance as a good detective ought to be (although the story suggests future romance).
There are a couple of minor bothers. Some of the slang isn't period accurate ("tony" to describe wealthy and upper class, strictly British at this time), The case is a bit tepid, and the author ends several chapters with foreshadowing lines along the "I would learn soon that was not the case" which is annoying and pointless in my opinion.
But overall its a fun read that kept me interested, and has a good procedural feel of someone going through the job stage by stage using assets and gaining information. Myers plays up the female PI in a non-complaint way; she shows the strengths a woman can bring by who she can contact and what she can do that a man wouldn't be able to instead of harping on how awful the world is to women.
I'm looking forward to more in this series.
Maggie Sullivan is hired to check on a businessman's son and presumed heir to see if he's in trouble; the young man has been acting strangely as of late. From this the case goes in different directions and the bodies start to hit the floor.
Maggie is a likable detective, unlike many of the most famous ones. She's tough and ready with a snarky line, but is a decent sort of person and she's unentangled with romance as a good detective ought to be (although the story suggests future romance).
There are a couple of minor bothers. Some of the slang isn't period accurate ("tony" to describe wealthy and upper class, strictly British at this time), The case is a bit tepid, and the author ends several chapters with foreshadowing lines along the "I would learn soon that was not the case" which is annoying and pointless in my opinion.
But overall its a fun read that kept me interested, and has a good procedural feel of someone going through the job stage by stage using assets and gaining information. Myers plays up the female PI in a non-complaint way; she shows the strengths a woman can bring by who she can contact and what she can do that a man wouldn't be able to instead of harping on how awful the world is to women.
I'm looking forward to more in this series.
May 12, 2020
As a male reader, one of the reasons I really like this book a lot is that the author played fair in the sense that if Maggie wanted to play in the big leagues in a non-sexist manner, she gets roughed up rather than "you can't hit a girl!" Having some Dayton roots, I found the sense of place well done. Most importantly, the writing quality I found very high - looking forward to more stories!
August 20, 2016
In M Ruth Myers's No Game for a Dame, the first installment in the Maggie Sullivan historical mystery series, we're transferred back in time to hit the easy streets. In Post-Depression era in Ohio, Maggie Sullivan is a private eye and hoping to catch her first case. It all started when someone threatened her in her office and the police have an eye on her. When she worked on a case to help Lewis Throckmorton's nephew, Peter Stowe, who's in a bind, it was up to her to find out what's it all about. As soon as she unraveled the mystery on who was behind the threats for him and even on her, she doesn't break under pressure, even when her first client dumps her. When she believed she had it, she discovered who was behind it, when her life was on the line to fight for her own life.
Want to read
January 21, 2016Free 1/21/16 at Amazon and B & N.
September 30, 2020
2020 bk 330. Set in 1930's Dayton, Ohio, this private eye is tough, witty, intelligent, and curious. She recognizes early in her cases that there are connections not yet uncovered. Maggie Sullivan's first book is well crafted, well thought out, well written. She reveals the clues openly, allowing the reader to follow Maggie's thinking as she seeks to sort out if there is crime, what is the crime, and how does it involve her employer's family. I will purchase more of this series - and Private Eye mysteries are not my favorite.
June 23, 2019
"A good vintage"
As soon as I read the first chapter I was back in the days when I read about Mike Hammer for the first time. That was over fifty years ago now but the sights, smells and sounds those stories evoked were emanating from the pages of the Maggie Sullivan tale on my kindle. Well-written and engaging, certainly worth a read. My only quibble was that it seemed to drag a little at times, rather like those TV shows they run over a two-hour slot when in truth it could have been wrapped up in ninety minutes.
As soon as I read the first chapter I was back in the days when I read about Mike Hammer for the first time. That was over fifty years ago now but the sights, smells and sounds those stories evoked were emanating from the pages of the Maggie Sullivan tale on my kindle. Well-written and engaging, certainly worth a read. My only quibble was that it seemed to drag a little at times, rather like those TV shows they run over a two-hour slot when in truth it could have been wrapped up in ninety minutes.
February 26, 2022
I really wanted to like this book and perhaps if I hadn't read it in fits and spurts over the course of 2-3 weeks, I might have gotten into it more. I might give more books in this series a try and if I do, I'll give the beginning more of a focused effort and see if I have a better experience.
April 6, 2023
This just didn’t appeal to me at this time. Not that it was poorly written, just seemed a little slow moving and didn’t suck me in to keep going past page 124.
Want to read
February 29, 2020EReaderCafe
June 24, 2017
I listened to this on audio, and loved it. Both author and narrator worked together perfectly to transport me to prohibition-era America, and I loved the character of private eye, Maggie Sullivan.
February 17, 2021
Set in Dayton in the 1930s. Full of local landmarks, and wonderful descriptions of places I know. The mystery is well done and reminiscent of V. I. Warshawski. Absolutely loved it!
February 5, 2016
In some ways, I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. Oh, I liked it, sure, and I'm probably going to push right ahead and read another in the series. It's sort of femininely faux noir, I suppose. It's set in the late 1930s--there are a few references to pre-WW2 stunts that Hitler was pulling in Europe, and some post-prohibition references, both of which help give it that period ambiance. The protagonist, Maggie Sullivan, is a no-nonsense, modern, gutsy young woman of Irish descent. She likes dark beer and gin. She keeps a loaded 38 either in her lap or in her purse pretty much all the time; and she's got another piece in the glove box of her car. She knows how to pull a trigger, too, when necessary. Her father was a cop, and she was raised among cops, so she comes honestly by the "gumshoe" business in Dayton, Ohio. Whoa... Where? Haha. I liked that the location is somewhere besides (yawn) NYC, Chicago, or LA. And the author seems to know her way around Dayton pretty well, so there's some authentic sounding local color and all that.
For a detective novel, however, it felt like there's a bit more than the usual amount of following, sitting around, and stakeouting. Maggie cogitates a lot, too. This is probably more realistic than a typical non-stop action gangland shoot-em-up. But the net is that we, the readers, get to hang out casually inside Maggie's head and ruminate a lot with her, and watch her hang out. Not a bad thing; she's good company. But the pacing can feel laid-back. (It picks up in the last 1/3 of the book.)
There are some formatting issues (excessive indents, double-spaces after periods, and left-single quotes masquerading as apostrophes, for example), and a lot of typos that should have been caught/fixed by the copy-editor.
I obtained this and the third book in the series as Amazon freebies. I may have to shell out $3.99 for the second book in the series, but I'm still on the fence about it...
For a detective novel, however, it felt like there's a bit more than the usual amount of following, sitting around, and stakeouting. Maggie cogitates a lot, too. This is probably more realistic than a typical non-stop action gangland shoot-em-up. But the net is that we, the readers, get to hang out casually inside Maggie's head and ruminate a lot with her, and watch her hang out. Not a bad thing; she's good company. But the pacing can feel laid-back. (It picks up in the last 1/3 of the book.)
There are some formatting issues (excessive indents, double-spaces after periods, and left-single quotes masquerading as apostrophes, for example), and a lot of typos that should have been caught/fixed by the copy-editor.
I obtained this and the third book in the series as Amazon freebies. I may have to shell out $3.99 for the second book in the series, but I'm still on the fence about it...
May 19, 2021
#1 in the Depression era (late 30's) private investigator Maggie Sullivan mystery series set in Dayton,Ohio. Sort of a noir private investigator except with a female lead.
A business owner worried about his nephew hires Maggie to see why his recent behavior has changed. Simple case, yet it quickly turns into something much more complicated when she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a crime boss with connections at City Hall. Maggie quickly finds herself in a number of threatening situations designed to warn her off while also bringing more attention from the local police than she desires.
A business owner worried about his nephew hires Maggie to see why his recent behavior has changed. Simple case, yet it quickly turns into something much more complicated when she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a crime boss with connections at City Hall. Maggie quickly finds herself in a number of threatening situations designed to warn her off while also bringing more attention from the local police than she desires.
April 22, 2012
No Game For A Dame is a throwback to the hardboiled PI detective stories of the 1930s. All the conventions of the genre are observed in a fast paced, well-plotted and carefully crafted story of good guys and gangsters, except one. As the title implies, the feisty PI is, well, a dame, a broad. Sam Spade and Stephen Marlowe must be spinning in their literary graves. Anyway, the book is a delightful read. However, there were a few things that jarred and puzzled me: author Myers used two British idioms (her bio indicates she’s thoroughly American) – “gaol” instead of “jail” and “windscreen” instead of “windshield.” I wonder if my kindle edition was edited for UK readers. Also, early in the book the year is given as 1941. Late in the book the PI reads about the Munich Pact in the local newspaper. The Munich agreement was in 1938. These minor things didn’t detract from my reading enjoyment.
February 22, 2014
I got this off bookbub.com for free. The author has a novel take: a female detective set in noir fiction. I think she did a pretty nice job overall and with appealing characters. I could have used more character development, for example I liked Flora and would have liked to hear more about her. I though the mystery was pretty straight forward, about as complex as say a Robert B. Parker novel. I thought it’s was edited pretty well although I was sometimes confused about who was speaking. I thought the novel was slow in some places (especially at the beginning), but I liked the book overall.
June 29, 2016
I REALLY wanted this book to be better then it was... But I just couldn't get past the fact that the murder mystery plot in this novel was so incredibly thin. What starts as a simple case for Maggie becomes increasingly more and more complicated with the turning of each page. Instead of the complexity bringing enjoyment to the reader all it brings is frustration. So in the end this became a DNF for me, I won't be picking up the next in this series.
September 7, 2015
This is the second book I've read by this author and I am not disappointed. Set in the depression era a female gumshoe (private investigator) takes on a job to see about the going ons of the nephew of a stationary business owner. Maggie Sullivan finds herself in the middle of murder, robbery, and gangsters... what do you expect from a daughter of a police officer. Great book with a strong and intelligent female would make a great tv movie. Ruth Myers I love how you weave a story..
February 25, 2019
Meh. The writing is okay but there was nothing compelling about the story.
Some books pull you in, consuming your attention. Others require you to repeatedly refocus your attention— an effort. This was an example of the latter.
The author did a good job writing in the classic noir style of the 1930’s, but little else stood out. 2.5 stars.
Some books pull you in, consuming your attention. Others require you to repeatedly refocus your attention— an effort. This was an example of the latter.
The author did a good job writing in the classic noir style of the 1930’s, but little else stood out. 2.5 stars.
January 29, 2015
This was a really good mystery with several really strong, really smart women characters in a time when women were often overlooked for their brains.
I will be reading more by this author and in this series.
I will be reading more by this author and in this series.
May 25, 2019
I got a third of the way in and just want to move on to another book. I love the noir genre but I feel this book is too lengthy and lacks pace.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 353 reviews