Dangerous Dames

A Trace McHugh Mystery

On private detective Trace McHugh’s antiquated answering machine is the gravelly voice of an angry woman threatening to put a bullet through his brain before morning. Morning is just around the corner.

Looking for a mystery that ain’t so cozy—Dangerous Dames is a hardboiled bit of noir just waiting to escort you down dark alleys that sparkle with broken whiskey bottles and lead to magnificent mansions crumbling under the weight of deception, corruption, and murder.

“McHugh, you there? McHugh! Damn you! What do you want to protect her for? She’s just a hooker.”

“Hookers need love too,” he said into the phone.

“Oh, so you are there,” she rasped. “Well, listen, I want the girl and I ain’t opposed to killing you to get her. So don’t mess with me. I got a big gun and I know how to use it. Tell me where you’ve hidden Marcie and I won’t use it on you.”

McHugh didn’t say anything. She got impatient. The sharp clicks of a revolver’s hammer being jammed into place roared across the line followed by: “McHugh, you damn peeper, where’s Marcie?” then more distantly: “Dammit, Charlie, this guy ain’t talking. I’m going over there and blow some bullets up his ass.” The line went dead.

Trace McHugh, a throwback PI who plays jazz saxophone, smokes cigars and pipes and lives without a computer or cell phone, is in a jam in his newly adopted hometown of San Francisco. Broken water pipes have kicked him out of his apartment. Thugs are threatening to kill him. Clients are lying to him. Cops are looking to lock him up. Death seems to follow him everywhere he goes. And on top of it all, a bevy of women have invaded his life with threats of seduction, romance, and brutality.

Dangerous Dames, a Trace McHugh mystery, buy your copy today and start the adventure tonight. Enjoy the noir.