Frederick C. Davis (1902–1977)

Night Drop

Private detective Schyler Cole and his partner Luke Speare are hired by a business exec who is being blackmailed. He is receiving letters demanding cash payments from the blackmailer as well as increasingly disturbing love letters from a mistress he swears does not exist. Murder soon ensues at his place of business he is, of course, a suspect.

This was an engaging mystery more in the line of an Ellery Queen or Agatha Christie type mystery than a hard boiled detective novel. It was show more fast paced with interesting characters and a constant stream of new mysteries and excitements. The story is narrated by Cole but Speare seems to do most of the detecting--I am not sure if that is always the case for this pair, who appear in other novels by the author, or if it was just Speare's time to shine. Cole does come through in the end and while the reveal of the murderer is not very special, the secondary reveal (well, it actually occurs first) is surprising and fun.

If you see a copy, grab it.

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High Heel Homicide

Charming little novella about a movie executive who gets caught up in the murder of his boss. He sees a woman fleeing from the seen then is bashed over the head and shot in the arm. There are a bevy of suspects at the TV studio where he works, including his own kind-of-girlfriend.

I found this one almost a bit silly in its manic action but still very enjoyable.

This one is closer to 3 stars than Night Drop's four but was still a fun, quick read (only about 77 pages). show less

A little dated (as expected) but tremendous fun. If you like pulps and don't always want the occult or mystical explained away in rationalizations or deductions, this might be the fun read for you.