Taurus Trip

Mac #16

by Thomas B. Dewey

Chicago detective "Mac" is asked by a former silent film star to find out what the problem is facing a fellow actor who shares her home.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Thomas Blanchard Dewey was an American author of hardboiled crime novels. He created two series of novels: the first one features Mac, a private investigator from Chicago, the second features Pete Schofield.

Reviews

[Karl]

Thomas Blanchard Dewey (Elkhart, Indiana, March 6, 1915 – Tempe, Arizona, April 1981), he also used the Pseudo-name Tom Brandt and Cord Wainer.

An Inner Sanctum Mystery.
First printing First Edition 1970.

-- Mac novel series --

"Every Bet's a Sure Thing", 1953
"Prey for Me", 1954
"The Mean Streets", 1954
The Brave, Bad Girls", 1956
"You've Got Him Cold", 1958
"The Case of the Chased and the Chaste", 1959
"The Girl Who Wasn't There", 1960
"How Hard to Kill", 1962
"A Sad Song Singing", 1963
"Don't Cry for Long", 1964
"Portrait of a Dead Heiress", 1965
"The Big Job" (short story), 1965
"Deadline", 1966
"Death and Taxes", 1967
"The King Killers", 1968
"The Love-Death Thing", 1969
"The Taurus Trip", 1970

Mac is a private investigator from Chicago.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Final Mac

The 17th and final book in Dewey's Mac detective series wasn't published until 1970 long past the heyday of this type of novel. Set in Los Angeles that feels more Fifties than 1970, it's filled with disappearing corpses, movie producers, hoodlums, and more. This one feels a bit dated and stale and meanders a bit before coming in for the kill at the end when Mac puts everything together and sets it all out.

[David J. McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave off film noir vibes while reading it and Mac came across very Humphrey Bogart-esque. I basically heard Bogart's voice the whole time I read it. I really liked the mystery of this story. Mac made for a good protagonist, likeable and with a sense of humor. Gilda didn't add much to the story but her dynamic with Mac was cute.

Things that stuck out while reading -- the editing of this book was less than stellar, at least in the beginning. On page nine, there's a sentence that starts "The name Peter Rinaldi rang a distant bell, but the" and it just cuts off and goes to the next paragraph. I'm sure I didn't miss much but reading along, you can tell you missed something.

The other thing that kind of raised a flag for me was the gas station attendant towards the end of the story -- the way he went along with Mac's plan (ALL OF MAC'S PLAN) without any hesitation or second thought strained credulity just a wee bit...

[J McEvoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Routine thick-ear which reads like it was largely written in the 50s but updated in the late 60s with then current buzz-words such as "cool" and "groovy" in an attempt to make it relevant. Not all bad; the plot concerns intrigue around a couple of former silent movie stars, which is interesting in itself. "Mac" is a not unsympathetic PI but I'm not minded to pursue his adventures any further - he lacks the close-mouthed gravitas of many a better investigator.