Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Fifty-to-One

by Charles Ardai



      Tricia "Trixie" Heverstadt travels from South Dakota to New York City where she hopes to hook up with her older sister and seek her fortune.  It’s the 1950s and opportunities are rare. She learns about the big city rather quickly when her sister tells her there’s not enough room for two in her tiny apartment and then within minutes a fast talking scoundrel swindles her out of her savings.

Homeless and penniless, Trixie goes in search of a job so she can survive. And, lo and behold, she once again encounters the shyster who stole her money, only this time, she’s not about to lose sight of him.  The man, Charley Borden, turns out to be a frantic publisher trying to make a living producing cheap, trashy crime novels.  He’s already spent Trixie’s money to keep his publishing business afloat and so, in desperation, he strikes a deal with Trixie to pay her for a true crime book; provided she can actually write one.  In the meantime he helps Trixie get a job as a dancer in a mob-run nightclub.

Trixie surprises Charley with a first rate story about a man who steals three million dollars from the mob. She goes into very fine detail about how the caper was carried out.  The only thing that she doesn’t tell Charley is that none of it is based on fact; it’s entirely made up.

Strangely, the local mob actually had been robbed of three million dollars and the method used in Trixie’s book was eerily similar to the way it actually happened.  Now the mob boss thinks he knows exactly where to go to retrieve his money and to get his revenge.

Charley Borden thought he had finally turned the corner as a publisher and now he’s forced to run for his life.  Trixie’s fate is no better.

Author Charles Ardai apparently wanted an exciting, action-packed book and that’s exactly what he wrote.  There’s hardly a page in this book that isn’t filled with furious energy. It’s a fast, fun story filled with impossible coincidences and stereotypical characters.  If you’re looking for a serious mystery, you may not find it in this book, but if you want pure entertainment and a plot that will make you smile, this is a can’t miss. It’s a book that’s just way too much fun to put down.

The Book

Hard Case Crime
November 25, 2008
Paperback
978-0-8439-5968-0
Mystery
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE:

The Reviewer

Dennis Collins
Reviewed 2008
NOTE: Reviewer Dennis Collins is the author of The Unreal McCoy and the second installment in this series, Turn Left at September. He's also Myshelf.com's "Between the Pages" columnist, covering the mystery genre and related topics.
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