Six Deadly Dames

 Six Deadly Dames (1950) by Frederick Nebel

A collection of six short stories some of which are connected and all featuring Donny Donahue, the best private investigator the Interstate Detective Agency has to offer. The stories also bring us a half-dozen women tied up in larceny, burglary, blackmail, and murder. Tough-talking, hard-hitting Donny "runs into a pair of sultry, ebony-haired sisters, with a following of trigger-happy hoods, in a mad scramble for a hot diamond ("The Red-Hots" and "Get a Load of This"). He barely comes out alive only to latch on to the whip end of a blood-stained string of pearls in a deadly tug-of-war with a felonious blonde ("Pearls Are Tears")." In "Spare the Rod," he avoids the dames, but gets himself involved with a man who tries to pull a fast one on the mob and the cops and thinks Donny will help him do it. Donny isn't that wet behind the ears. He manages to see through the double-dealer's shenanigans. "Death's Not Enough" brings murder right to Donny's door and he'll have to shake the facts loose from a dame in a fur and her friend the fat man before he'll figure out why Larrimore had to die. And, finally, in "Save Your Tears," a boxer's babe nearly gets him sent to prison for a murder he didn't commit--and all because she didn't want him to know she was two-timing him with the victim. Donny's on the case and brings in the real murderer.

Typical pulp-era tough guy thrillers. Lots of action, lots of shooting and rough-housing. Of the lot, "Spare the Rod" and "Save Your Tears" are the best. These two contain the bare bones of real mystery while the others pretty much consist of yelling and threatening and shooting to get the culprits to come clean. Decent reading, but not the best hard-boiled I've ever read. ★★ and 1/2.

First line (1st story): The taxi slopped and skidded through brittle slush and its right front wheel grated against the curb as squealing four-wheel brakes dragged it to a stop.

Last line (last story): "Save your tears, Token."

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Deaths = 15 (one stabbed; twelve shot; one drowned; one poisoned)