Maggie Sullivan mysteries Series

A .38, a nip of gin and sensational legs get Depression-era private investigator Maggie Sullivan out of most scrapes – until a stranger threatens to bust her nose, she’s hauled in on suspicion of his murder and she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a sadistic crime boss. Matching wits against dangerous men, with bits of information from a dime store waitress, a ragged newsboy and the girls at her rooming house, Maggie follows a path that leaves her drugged, in her DeSoto in a ditch. A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer. If you like Robert B. Parker's hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don't miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats -- but seldom a Smith & Wesson.

When a man offers 1940s private investigator Maggie Sullivan twice her usual fee to look into a "possible" jewelry theft from his hotel safe, she’s skeptical — until a maid’s body tumbles out of a trash can and a jeweler known for high quality fakes is murdered. Does a hotel guest who vanished without a trace hold a piece of the puzzle?  Or does it have to do with the Polish count and his family fleeing the start of WW2 in Europe?  Could the cops be right that it’s all a trick devised by her client? More at ease in Dayton, Ohio’s, streets and alleyways than in the posh Hotel Canterbury, and chafing under the need to hide her true occupation, Maggie threads her way through an unfamiliar array of suspects: Celluloid luminaries in town for a hush-hush project; an international Lothario whose shady local past she unearths; the count’s embittered valet. Meanwhile, preparations for a visit by FDR preoccupy the city’s police.  The Irish cop who long has wooed Maggie suddenly departs for Chicago.  Alone and bruised, Maggie faces adversaries whose motives stun her... and a killer who will stop at nothing. A dash of humor leavens this historical mystery series with its early 20th century hard-boiled atmosphere and a flinty detective who wields her Smith & Wesson as skillfully as her emery board.  Previous Maggie Sullivan mysteries are No Game for a Dame, Tough Cookie, Don’t Dare a Dame, and two short stories.

When Depression-era private eye Maggie Sullivan is invited to dine with a millionaire, she doesn’t expect the first course to be a gun in her face.  It draws her into a gold-plated web of theft, revenge, double crosses and murder. A big-time swindle has made fools of some of the city’s wealthiest businessmen.  The man  behind it has vanished.  When Maggie begins asking questions, he reappears – dead in the river. But she’s already learned too much.  Someone’s out to silence her too. Armed with her .38 and a nip of gin, Maggie closes in on a killer as a mobster offers a hint, a cop unsettles her with his chemistry, and a woman with deadly potential plays a game by her own rules.

As WWII rages in the Pacific, relatives of a Japanese-American suspected of starting a fatal fire hire Ohio private investigator Maggie Sullivan to uncover the truth. Did he do it? Is he alive or dead? The police claim not to know what became of him, and there are hints of War Department involvement. Tosh Hashimoto and his family are among some 150 Japanese-Americans brought to Dayton by a church coalition that found jobs and housing for them throughout the community. The more Maggie learns about the night of the fire, the more she believes Tosh is being framed. Grieving the recent loss of a close childhood friend killed in battle, Maggie wrestles inner conflict over taking the case. A harrowing attack in an alley, the murder of a witness, and a racist warning gouged into her office filing cabinet fuel her resolve to push ahead. Amid rationing, shortages, extra beds for noisy newcomers wedged into corners of her once-quiet rooming house, and an unexpected change in her personal life, Maggie scrambles to determine the identity of a killer who is more than willing to kill again. 

Join private investigator Maggie Sullivan for a fast-paced ride through streets and alleys of 1940s Dayton, Ohio, in the first four books of this historical mystery series that blends cozy with harboiled. The set includes the Shamus Award-winning novel Don't Dare a Dame plus these titles: No Game for a Dame, Tough Cookie and Shamus in a Skirt. NO GAME FOR A DAME – When a stranger who threatened her and wrecked her office winds up dead, 1940s private eye Maggie Sullivan finds herself taking on a crime boss. TOUGH COOKIE – A high stakes swindler Maggie is hunting is found floating in the river. Now someone wants to silence her – and the corpse is strangely active. DON'T DARE A DAME – A 25-year-old murder jeopardizes Maggie's future as a private eye as well as her life when it points toward powerful people with political connections. SHAMUS IN A SKIRT – Murder and theft at a posh hotel pits Maggie against well-heeled suspects fleeing the war in Europe. Like mysteries with touches of humor, well-developed characters and a gritty little female who holds her own with the tough guys? Maggie's your gal. More than 800 five-star reviews say once you slide into the passenger seat of Maggie's DeSoto, you won't want to get out. Buy the box set now.

(This SHORT STORY features characters from the author's full-length Maggie Sullivan mystery novels.)   The woman with work-roughened hands begs 1940s private investigator Maggie Sullivan to find her kid sister, the sister she's raised since the girl was a toddler. But two days later Maggie's client is dead. Everyone, cops included, brushes it off as suicide born of despair. Everyone except Maggie. With her Smith & Wesson and a nip of gin, the flinty detective sets out to uncover the fate of the missing girl. Her hunt leads her to a secretarial agency whose owner likes to paw his employees, and to a rich man's mansion where she encounters depravity beyond her darkest imaginings.  

(This short story features characters from the author's Maggie Sullivan mysteries series.) Depression-era private investigator Maggie Sullivan knows how to be tough when she needs to and polish her nails when she doesn't. A job offer from a blonde at a dime store lunch counter lures her to a still-warm corpse in an alley. His gold watch and cufflinks are still on him, but not his shoes and socks. A night of grilling by homicide cops does nothing to improve Maggie's mood, which deteriorates further when they laugh off a lead she gives them and imply she solves cases by batting her eyes instead of using her brains. Aided by a ragtag newsboy, Maggie baits a trap for the killer. He shows up with a knife. But Maggie wields a .38 as expertly as she does an emery board — and she doesn't back down for thugs or authorities when she's after answers.

With World War II rationing making new tires unavailable, 1940s private investigator Maggie Sullivan needs a retread tire to keep her DeSoto rolling through city streets, not a confrontation with two killers. Unfortunately for  the scrappy Ohio detective, one leads to the other.                                  It starts with a tall man in need of her help but quickly leads to a redhead claiming to be a clergyman's daughter, puzzling hanky panky with a window in a second story service garage, and skeptical cops. Maybe, just possibly, someone's after loot worth enough to risk spilling blood.   Tracking  down thugs and facing them alone, in the dark, is all in a day's work for Maggie. The dry-humored female protagonist would rather be using her emery board, but as those on the wrong side of the law discover, she doesn't mind using her Smith & Wesson.   This SHORT STORY features characters from the full length novels in the author's traditional mystery series set in 1940s America. It follows Maggie through cases in  the years 1938-1946 and the city of Dayton, Ohio, from the end of the Great Depression into and through World War II. Readers who enjoy a 20th century historical mystery won't go wrong here.