Tuesday, March 18

Too Darn Hot – Sandra Scoppetone

When the Nips hit Pearl Harbor and the boys shipped out, dames got opportunities they nevah woulda had otherwise. That’s how Faye Quick, a PI swelterin in one of New York’s hottest summers, wound up a PI. With a coupla soved murders under her belt, she’s got experience. So when a jane comes to her with a sob story about her fella goin missin, Faye doesn’t sweat it, even after the bodies start pilin up.
Scppetone’s done her research on the era, and don’t we know it – every ‘you’ is a ‘ya’, no word keeps its final g, and so heavily larded with forties lingo is Too Darned Hot, the sequel to This Dame for Hire (which I haven’t read) that I couldn’t concentrate on the plot or character development. I put it down at the end of chapter thirteen and just couldn’t pick it back up.
Scoppetone’s known for her lesbian fiction – both the Laura Laurano PI series and her novels for teens, both of which I really enjoy. She’s also written some more hardboiled novels under pseudoneums, and I wish she’d had this published under one of those, too. - Alex

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