Robert Dietrich was a pseudonym for E. Howard Hunt, better known for his role in the Watergate scandal rather than for his great crime novels. Gore Vidal wrote this about “Robert Dietrich” in the New York Times: “In 1957, H.H. gave birth to ‘Robert Dietrich,’ who specialized in thrillers, featuring Steve Bentley, formerly of the CID and now a tax consultant. H.H. plainly enjoys composing plausible (and implausible) biographies for his characters—not to mention for himself. In Contemporary Authors, H.H. composed a bio for his pseudonym Robert Dietrich, taking ten years off his age, putting himself in the infantry during Korea, awarding himself a Bronze Star and a degree from Georgetown.”
Crime, lust, betrayal and romance rage on tropical islands in these four, classic noir novels from the 1950s & 60s.
The Telltale Tart by Peter Duncan
The Awakening by John Cantwell
Tropic of Cleo by Rick Holmes
The Calypso Caper by Robert Dietrich
It’s Washington D.C., 1959. Linda Lee was a stripper… a sultry Venus, cynically exhibiting her body to anyone who could pay the price. But to Steve Bentley, she would always be the honey-skinned child with hair the color of spun taffy, a warm-hearted kid with soft lips and soft body. And now she was dead. Looking down at her on a morgue slab, Steve swore he would find her killer and make him pay.
Steve Bentley was a spy during the Korean War and now works as an accountant in Washington D.C. But his conservative job hides a brutal toughness…and a tendancy to get himself in trouble. He agrees to help Francie Ballou, a teenage addict and mother who is ensnared in a murder plot that involves the mob. To get her out of it, Steve may have to do some killing himself…
