The Wailing Frail

The Wailing Frail

Author: Richard S. Prather

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1480498211

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Los Angeles PI Shell Scott must keep his eyes off the girl and on the case as corruption hits California politics. Shell Scott. He’s a guy with a pistol in his pocket and murder on his mind. The crime world’s public enemy number one, this Casanova is a sucker for a damsel in distress. When a pair of lovely legs saunters into his office, he can’t help but to take the job, even when the case is a killer. As usual, the beautiful women are always the mysterious ones. Following the goddess-like facade of a major player in the California Senate investigation, Shell Scott, PI, must compose himself and get on the case before things get violent. But he can’t take his eyes off this enchanting girl. As events churns into a cyclone of violence, Shell must rush to solve the case before he gets caught in the cross fire. The Wailing Frail is the 13th book in the Shell Scott Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.


Straight from the Fridge, Dad

Straight from the Fridge, Dad

Author: Max Decharne

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2002-05-07

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0767910990

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Righteous jive for all you weedheads, moochers, b-girls, gassers, bandrats, triggermen, grifters, snowbirds, and long-gone daddies. Much of the slang popularly associated with the hippie generation of the 1960s actually dates back to before World War II, hijacked in the main from jazz and blues street expressions, mostly relating to drugs, sex, and drinking. Why talk when you can beat your chops, why eat when you can line your flue, and why snore when you can call some hogs? You’re not drunk–you’re just plumb full of stagger juice, and your skin isn’t pasty, it’s just caf? sunburn. Need a black coffee? That’s a shot of java, nix on the moo juice. Containing thousands of examples of hipster slang drawn from pulp novels, classic noir and exploitation films, blues, country, and rock ’n’ roll lyrics, and other related sources from the 1920s to the 1960s, Straight from the Fridge, Dad is the perfect guide for all hep cats and kittens. Think of it as a sort of Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary for the beret-wearing, bongo-banging set. Solid, Jackson.


The Shell Scott Sampler

The Shell Scott Sampler

Author: Richard S. Prather

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1480498548

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Shell Scott finds himself pressed up against seductive women in deadly situations like no other hard-boiled L.A. sleuth. This collection of five adventures delivers all the action and excitement Shell Scott readers know to anticipate. Follow him through entanglements with Hollywood killers, murderous thieves, and more gorgeous women than his pistol can handle--all at the same time! It's the perfect primer for one of sleuthing's most persistent and enduring character. The Shell Scott Sampler is the 36th book in the Shell Scott Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.


The Getaway Car

The Getaway Car

Author: Donald E. Westlake

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-09-03

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 022612195X

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“This is a book for everyone, anyone who likes mystery novels or good writing or wit and passion and intelligence.”—The New York Times Over the course of a fifty-year career, Donald E. Westlake published nearly one hundred books, including two long-running series starring the hard-hitting Parker and the hapless John Dortmunder. With The Getaway Car, we get our first glimpse of another side of Westlake the writer: what he did when he wasn’t busy making stuff up. Mixing previously published pieces, many little seen, with never-before-published material found in Westlake’s working files, this compendium offers a clear picture of the man behind the books—including his thoughts on his own work and that of his peers, mentors, and influences. It opens with revealing (and funny) fragments from an unpublished autobiography, then goes on to offer an extended history of private eye fiction, a conversation among Westlake’s numerous pen names, letters to friends and colleagues, interviews, appreciations of fellow writers, and much, much more. There’s even a recipe for Sloth à la Dortmunder. Really. “A must-have for Westlake fans.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This book doesn’t disappoint…Westlake was a hugely entertaining and witty writer. Whether he is writing a letter to his editor or about the history of his genre, he remains true to his definition of what makes a great writer: ‘passion, plus craft.’”—The Guardian “[A] valuable collection.”—Toronto Star Includes a foreword by Lawrence Block


The Trojan Hearse

The Trojan Hearse

Author: Richard S. Prather

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1480498246

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A pop star’s death puts Los Angeles PI Shell Scott on the hit list in the mystery series with more than 40 million copies in print. With a national election going on, Shell Scott’s timing might have been less than perfect. Perhaps he did prevent the victory for the shoo-in candidate, but a lot of strange things were happening. There was Polly Plank, whom he encountered in her psychiatrist’s office in her birthday suit. What about the American singing idol Johnny Tray, who turned up dead? And of course Joe Rice, leader of the West’s underworld, who wanted Shell under the world too—six feet under. The Trojan Hearse is the 28th book in the Shell Scott Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.


Three's a Shroud

Three's a Shroud

Author: Richard S. Prather

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1480498300

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A triple play of foul play for PI Shell Scott. “One can always rely on Richard S. Prather to deliver a breezy, sex and violence filled caper” (The Ringer Files). Three tales of murder and mystery from everyone’s favorite dick: With a name like Shell Scott, you can imagine a lot of peculiar things creep up on me—even murder. Especially when there are minor—er, major—distractions that keep me from sleuthing properly . . . or, in some cases, help me to sleuth improperly. There was the steamy Martita, whose sizzling seduction led me to the barrel of her pointed pistol and sent me sprinting from her singing bullets. And of course I can’t forget to mention my Hungarian hurricane Ilona, whose stormy winds swept me so far off the ground only parts of me returned in one piece. It’s no joke that I’m hanging on by thinning threads these days—but it’s cozier than hanging on to delicious Diane’s velvet noose. One frail’s ferocious. Two’s double trouble. And—pardon me if I croak—three’s a Shroud. Three’s a Shroud is the 16th book in the Shell Scott Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.


Dead-Bang

Dead-Bang

Author: Richard S. Prather

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-11-17

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1497652189

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To rescue a scientist’s daughter, Shell Scott leaps headfirst into a swinging international conspiracy The woman at the door is young, frightened, and, most importantly, gorgeous. Shell Scott is the savviest private detective in Los Angeles. His forte is noticing women, and Drusilla is not to be missed. It’s no wonder she’s so lovely: Her father is the inventor of Erovite, the greatest aphrodisiac known to man. Scott, of course, isn’t in need of aphrodisiacal assistance, but it would be impossible to miss the invention of a wonder drug that jumpstarts the libido and cures any number of aches, pains, and diseases at the same time. Erovite’s monumental claims have drawn the wrath of the medical community, the FDA, and the Christian Church, among others, and someone has decided to take action. Drusilla’s father has been kidnapped, and only Scott can save this happy hedonist from the sinister forces of good taste. Dead-Bang is the 37th book in the Shell Scott Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.


Danger Beyond the Reef

Danger Beyond the Reef

Author: Harvey Alexander Smith

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2009-08

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1440159637

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Tall and handsome, twenty-six-year-old Alexander Karastinos is passionate about life and living it. Popular with his friends in the small Greek community of Tarpon Springs, Florida, he works hard in the dangerous profession of sponge-fishing. Alexander enjoys spending his free time with his gorgeous and exotic Cuban girlfriend, Silvia Morales. But his comfortable life and his relationship with Silvia are suddenly turned upside down by his father's surprise announcement at a family dinner. Quietly, the patriarchs of the Karastinos and Demetrias families have arranged a marriage between Alexander and Melena Demetrias. Neither of them believes they are ready for marriage, but Alexander and Melena understand the consequences of refusing their parents' wishes. In the days and months that follow, Alexander and his older brother Taso come to grips with their personal challenges while crossing paths with a dangerous man whose legacy for hating all Greeks places young Alexander in grave danger. Only a mysterious old Greek woman in black stands between Alexander and the evil she knows he faces.