No Game for a Dame (Maggie Sullivan mysteries) [Kindle Edition]

M. Ruth Myers (Author)

Book Description

I could use a dozen more mysteries with detective Maggie Sullivan on my reading table. She’s tough, gritty – and totally engaging.
Sandra Love, author of DIVE FOR THE SUN

Rich in the author’s knowledge of her chosen town and time (1930s), not to mention rich in clever plot twists. A great read.
Suzanne Clauser, screenwriter & author of A GIRL NAMED SOONER

Private eye Maggie Sullivan knows the streets of Depression-era Dayton, Ohio, as well as she knows an emery board. With a gin bottle in her desk, a .38 under her seat, and a great pair of legs she can hold her own against the toughest opponent.

Then a routine case makes her a murder suspect and the target of a crime boss who’s got friends at City Hall.

Moving through a landscape where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a corner newsboy; a nightclub cigarette girl in the rooming house where she lives. She shifts to a war of wits when she wants something from her shutterbug pal on the evening paper or the new cop teamed with her late father’s partner.

Before Maggie finds all the answers she needs, she’s drugged and left in a ditch, has tea in the kitchen of a local cathouse and gambles her own life to save two others.

If you like Robert B. Parker's Spencer series, don't miss NO GAME FOR A DAME.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

M. Ruth Myers is a former reporter and feature writer for daily papers including The Journal Herald in Dayton. Most of her nine previous novels have been published in foreign translations as well as in English. Ruth's time at the typewriter allows her husband to climb on the roof with untied shoelaces and the cat to sprawl on the kitchen table without reprimand.

Product Details

• File Size: 336 KB
• Print Length: 280 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1467957976
• Publisher: Tuesday House (October 28, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0061063ZE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,973 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dame at the Top of Her Game October 30, 2011

By K. M. Flanagan

Format:Kindle Edition

Maggie Sullivan has plenty of moxie - and she needs every bit of it. She's a private detective in pre-World War II Dayton, Ohio, and, as she's been warned, that "ain't no game for a dame." Her latest case involves a local businessman who's been worried about his nephew's recent odd behavior. But there's someone else in town - a very powerful someone else - who doesn't like Maggie asking questions. As she follows her hunches into Dayton's Irish bars, with her cronies down at the Daily News, or among the working girls she boards with, the threats increase in danger, and Maggie begins to realize her life may be on the line.

No Game For A Dame is a delightful, satisfying read for many reasons. One is the craft with which author M. Ruth Myers pulls you subtly and surely into the place and time. The novel has the ambiance of a classic 1930s mystery film, with every detail in place. Even a key point in the plot turns on a piece of technology that would have been brand new in 1937. Maggie's razor-sharp wit and mastery of the the sarcastic riposte make for laugh out loud funny lines. Veteran mystery fans as well as new ones will appreciate the tight, fast-paced plot that will keep them guessing, with just a hint of romance to tease them. It's my bet that we have not heard the last of Maggie Sullivan, and I'm looking forward to her next case.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars no game for a dame detective novel review March 12, 2012

By gpangel

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

No Game for a Dame by M. Ruth Myers is a hardboiled detectivie novel set in the 1930's . The big twist is, if you haven't guessed from the title, is our detective is a woman. Maggie Sullivan is just as wise cracking has her male counterparts from days past. The story is fast moving, and sets the scene of the era so one can visualize it . Maggie is hired initially to check out a guy whose uncle is concerned about him after he notices him flashing around some cash and wearing clothes he couldn't afford on his salary. Of course this leads to a robbery ring, underworld thugs, murder, and kidnapping. Miss Sullivan's father having been on the police force before his passing, gives her some friends on the force if she needs them, but there's a new guy that doesn't take to her so well in the beginning. There's all the jargon associated with the hardboiled detective novels we all love, but with a female lead, she has to be inventive in ways the gents didn't have to. "Crooks and killers set so much more by brawn they overlook gals." This was something our herione used to her advantage on number of occasions. When asked if she was some kinda cop, Miss Sullivan replied, "Nope. Private."
" A dame?"
"Yeah. We can vote, too."
That says it all.
The book does have a very moderate amount of language, some violence, not over done. Overall, a very enjoyable read.
Note: This is only my second review for Amzazon books. I hope you will find it helpful. If you chose to leave a comment, please be kind.I am not a professional book reviewer, author or journalist. Just passionate about books and wish to share my experience with you.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eureka! A Smart, Inventive Female Private Eye! October 30, 2011

By Jo-Ann Hague

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

NO GAME FOR A DAME is a great mystery with wonderful characters.

The street-smart inventiveness of feisty heroine Maggie Sullivan makes her the perfect private detective. M. Ruth Myers combines grittiness in the tradition of Marcia Muller with the historic flavor of the Midwest during the Great Depression.

I am a lifelong resident of southwestern Ohio, so a delightful bonus for me was the fun of seeing some of my favorite haunts come alive in 1930s Dayton.

I've read every novel by M. Ruth Myers, and this is her best yet.

Get on board with this first mystery in what promises to be a most delightful series.

More About the Author

Novels by M. Ruth Myers have been translated into several foreign languages, used in college classes on popular fiction, optioned for film and condensed in Good Housekeeping. In 2011 her Maggie Sullivan mystery series, featuring a female private eye in the 1930s-40s, debuted with NO GAME FOR A DAME.

A native of Missouri, Myers spent ten of her growing-up years in Cheyenne, Wyoming. After earning a Bachelor of Journalism degree at the University of Missouri J-School she worked as a reporter and feature writer on daily papers in Saginaw, Michigan, and Dayton, Ohio.

When not writing, Myers enjoys reading (mostly mystery-suspense) or playing Irish traditional music on the button accordion and Anglo concertina. She and her husband live in Ohio. They have one grown daughter.