Dead Heat

Another fun Shell Scott yard by Richard S. Prather. The title states 'Over 27 million Shell Scott books sold!' so these were definitely popular in their day.

This one concerns a businessman/investor who hires Scott to investigate goings on at a company he is heavily invested in. One of the partners is in jail for embezzlement and the stock has crashed, much to the investor's dismay. The prior investigator on the case was murdered at a racetrack, making this a dangerous case from the start.

Scott finds that a gangster has been buying up a lot of the stock. The daughter of the jailed partner (who is the science whiz behind the company) has disappeared.

Shell tangles with gangsters and meets a beautiful but air headed secretary along the show more way.

Told with Prather's usual tough but humorous prose, this is a typical entry in both the Shell Scott series and in the hard-boiled detective genre. While there is nothing new or profound here, it is a fun story, well told. show less

nothing spectacular about this one,except maybe for the woman lead named "Doody" and "Janice," a woman who should remain in the Shell Scott books, at least for awhile, as she outshines all other women by a ratio of 10 to one.

This is the third SS book by Prather I've read in a row, and I think the only way I'm going to wean off of Prather is to turn to MacDonald. Maybe that's kind of weaning off hot cereal by going to flapjacks, but it works.

Wonderful tongue-in-cheek stories written long before the Chevy Chase/Fletch movies. Same smart mouth, wise cracking character.