The Deadly Dames / A Dum-Dum for the President [Paperback]

Douglas Sanderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

THE DEADLY DAMES: Montreal is in the midst of a heatwave. And if that weren't miserable enough, private eye Bill Yates is hired by a lush to tail his wayward wife. Yates hates divorce cases. But this case has more than meets the eye. The lush's rich mother-in-law wants to hire Yates away from the case. Then she gets hit by a bus and killed. The lush fires Yates. His wife, Gloria, promptly hires Yates herself. Gloria's big sister, Fay, gets in on the act. Things get complicated. And between the boyfriend who wants to rough him up, the crooked cop who wants to bust him, the night club owner that wants to kill him, and several other characters who all seem to want to threaten Yates's personal health, the heatwave is the least of his troubles.

A DUM-DUM FOR THE PRESIDENT: Montreal P.I. Mike Garfin doesn't believe Martha Davenport when she comes to him to help her locate her wayward sister. Later that evening, he runs into an old friend at a local bar, who invites him to a swank cocktail party. Garfin knows he's being set-up for something, and once there, he meets Tremblay, who takes him next door and introduces him to a mysterious Latin American gentleman known as Mr. Mirek. Garfin is asked to guard a key. The next day he discovers that Mirek is a powerful ex-president named Manuel Bordera. Something doesn't feel right. Then Miss Davenport comes back with a new story. And in no time at all, Garfin is being smacked, shot at, strangled and seduced as he tries to get to the bottom of the whole affair. NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED IN THE U.S.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sanderson (1920-2002) is another one of the forgotten pulp heroes being ushered back into the limelight by Stark House. Dames, which first appeared in 1956, features a Montreal private eye caught up in a steamy web of intrigue; Dum-Dum (1961) features another Montreal private eye--actually the same character with a different name--who gets mixed up in a plot to assassinate a foreign dignitary. As befitting the genre, the stories feature beautiful women, rough-and-tough characters, plenty of action, and lines like this: "She smiled kittenishly, a small steam kettle of neurotic sex." Sanderson deserves a wider audience, and this two-pack may be the first step. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Closest to Spillane in extremity of violence, but offers literary prose and sharp dialogue along with frantic action." -- Jon Breen, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"His twisted and often nightmarish tales of obsession stand up amazingly well." -- Kevin Burton Smith, from his Introduction

"Retro-crime fans will be clamoring for more." --Wes Lukowsky, Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Stark House Press; First Edition edition (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933586060
• ISBN-13: 978-1933586069
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,884,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These highly volatile tales supremely entertain!, September 2, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deadly Dames / A Dum-Dum for the President (Paperback)

Douglas Sanderson's novels were published in the 1950's to 1960's. He used his own name, but also wrote under the pseudonyms of Malcolm Douglas and Martin Brett. Although his stories featured Montreal private investigator Mike Garfin, he morphed his hero into Bill Yates (same detective and location) for THE DEADLY GAMES. Stark House brought these two Sanderson novels back to the public after 45 years.

In THE DEADLY GAMES Detective and former Mountie Bill Yates gets involved in what could only be described as a major dysfunctional family's fight over money. A wealthy family matriarch comes to Yates for an assignment but is murdered under a trolley car before Yates can get much information. A jealous husband wants Yates to spy on his wife and catch her in the act with another man. Her sister, Fay Boyle, pops into town to complicate matters. But all this isn't supposed to happen in Montreal:

"We're nice, kindly, superior and virtuous, the newspapers insist. They add with a touch of pride that we're maybe drab and colorless. It's a great think to see kindly types kickin in each other's heads every night. Once in a while, like when they suspend the local hockey star thousands of polite drab people go on a screaming, howling rampage, twenty-four house of smashing and looting. Or if the price of streetcar tickets is increased we have another long riot that wrecks and burns two hundred and fifty vehicles, paralyzes all service and ends in mass arrests. Regrettable, say the newspapers. Must be out-of-town elements. We go back to being officially kindly, colorless, drab and dull, till next time."

A DUM-DUM FOR PRESIDENT is just as full of the Archie Goodwin type of investigator, and this time it's P.I. Mike Garfin on the job. A deposed ex-president hires Garfin to keep a key for $500. Garfin makes the connection through an old buddy. Martha Davenport wants Mike to find her missing sister. Suddenly Mike Garfin is getting seriously beaten up at every turn.

Douglas Sanderson wrote great detective novels. His characters are all pulp; the action is non-stop; and the detectives involved are heroic, constantly beaten up, even as the women they get involved with stay on the sidelines and weep. These highly volatile tales supremely entertain!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer