Red Hot Ice

Johnny Liddell #9

by Frank Kane

A case of corpses.
They piled up so fast that private eye Johnny Liddell figured he was ahead if he found them while they were still warm.

It started when he was hired as a baby-sitter to a wildcat. She was blonde and beautiful, and stacked better than a deck of marked cards. And she had a cool $200,000 worth of hot diamonds.

There was just one hitch. She used bourbon instead of perfume.

Genres: Mystery, Collections

Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Frank Kane, Brooklyn-born and a lifetime New Yorker, worked for many years in journalism and corporate public relations before shifting to fiction writing. At the time he was selling crime stories to the pulps he was also sustaining a career writing scripts for such radio shows as Gangbusters and The Shadow.

In addition to the Johnny Liddells, Kane wrote several suspense novels, some softcore erotica, and (under the pen name of Frank Boyd) "Johnny Staccato", a Gold Medal original paperback based on the short-lived noir television series, starring John Cassavetes, about a Greenwich Village bebop pianist turned private detective.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kane's Johnny Liddell series is one of the best of the numerous fifties- era private eye series. It's everything you could want in a PI novel, a tough, uncompromising detective who plays everything close to the vest, chorus girls, actresses, gambling syndicates, and a few honest cops who are frustrated no one - not even Johnny -- is sharing info with them. And, of course, you have Johnny's gal pal, Mugsy Kiely, the ace cub reporter for her father's paper and Pinky, Johnny's secretary.
Red Hot Ice is a story that begins with a gambling airplane and a world famous, blonde actress who drinks like she got poured out of the bottle. Gambling and booze of course lead to gambling debts and murder. And then there's the gigolo husband looking for a better touch and a missing fortune in diamonds and a pair of out of town hitmen. Kane has a great writing style and it makes for an easy and quick read. This is simply old fashioned classic PI stuff and it's as good and as action packed as anything you'll find.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Liddell is hired to safeguard an alcoholic actress. Eventually, she gets knocked off, and a fortune in diamonds are missing. The cops want to pin it on Johnny's associate, but Johnny's not going to let that happen.