Six classic hard-boiled novels set in the world of music…and one bonus novel.
THE GOLD-PLATED SEWER by Ovid Demaris
Ex-cop turned PI Vince Slader is hired to protect Freddie Sharpe, an obscenely rich, obscenely arrogant, obscenely talented, and obscenely obscene big name singer… who moves through the sin-filled mansions, back alleys, bars, clubs and studios of Tinseltown with an entourage of hangers-on and sychophants, any one of whom could be homicidally jealous of their not-so-benevolent benefactor.
“Demaris saturates the prose with gunplay, fast cars and sexy women. The criminals are edgy, but the hero is a valid, uncompromising tough guy who serves as the perfect crime combatant.” The Paperback Warrior
STOP OVER by Morton Cooper
When the good people of Greenleaf, Pennsylvania condemed Fred Nichols’ mother for her adultery, and wept insincerely over her grave, he left town in disgust and wound up in Hollywood, where he remade himself as a fixer for the stars. Now tan and rich, he’s making his fat living keeping a rock star actor Tommy Hatcher’s wild lifestyle and insatiable desires from creating headlines. But now Tommy’s new movie, The Cool and the Haunted, is shooting in Greenleaf, and Fred will have to confront his past to protect the superstar…and save himself.
CIRCLE OF SIN by March Hastings
Cabaret singer Sarine Duvall’s style and voice are sultry, sexy and magnetic…and it drives reasonable men wild with lust. That is Sarine’s power, and she knows how to wield it, using it to move to bigger and better New York clubs, and more attractive, possessive, and deadly men. No one wants her more than Paul, a married musician whose wife isn’t about to let him out of her matrimonial grip, and is willing to fight tooth and claw, lips and breasts, to keep him.
MURDER ON HER MIND by Robert Dietrich
She was a lush-bodied, Latin Chanteuse with a song on her lips, passion in her heart, and murder on her mind…
“My name is Steve Bentley, and I’d seen Chula Marques on TV before, but seeing Chula perform in person was something entirely different. On TV, they always shot her from the waist up. Now I knew why. Her voice was throaty and true, but what made the customers edge forward was what she did with her hips and legs while she was singing. The message was a little too basic for the home audience…”
BABY, COME ON INSIDE by David Wagoner
Popsy Meadows is a Sinatra-esque superstar singer with a massive following who is entering his fifties. His voice is cracking, he’s gaining weight, and he might just be drinking himself into madness. Out of desperation, he goes back to his midwestern home town to try and find himself again…or at least to see where he went wrong. He does it by throwing a massive party that could end up being his wake.
DUPREE BLUES by Dale Curran
Dupree is a hot trombone player who plays his music from his heart. Then he meets Betty, a singer whose sweet music comes from her aching desire. What she wants is a diamond ring, but if he gets it for her, it will cost him much more than money, plunging him into a whirlpool of sex, betrayal, gambling and murder.
“When a man is addicted to liquor and hot music, he will not necessarily get into trouble. But add a beautiful blonde — and he is doomed.” Hartford Courant
BONUS NOVEL: SEND ME DOWN by Henry Steig
“One of the most important fictional contributions to the social history of the United States.” Boston Post
The ground-breaking, compelling, and vividly realistic saga of two brothers in the world of jazz, from the roaring twenties to the 1940s, back in print for the first time in 80 years.
“This, one of the earliest novels about a jazz musician, might just be the best when it comes to capturing both the business and the art.” The Neglected Books Page