Maggie Sullivan is employed by two sisters to determine what happened to their father in the Dayton flood of 1913, over 26 years ago. Then her life gets complicated. ( )

It is 1939 in Dayton, Ohio, and Maggie Sullivan, private investigator, has been hired by two spinster sisters, Corrine and Isobel Vanhorn, to find out what happened to their father who disappeared in the great flood of 1913. He had left the house to go to the pharmacy for some medicine and was never seen again. Many people drowned in the flood. Others died in the fires that accompanied it. But the sisters believed he had been murdered.
One of the sisters had just gotten possession of the family house following their mother’s death, raising a dispute between her and at least one of her brothers and stepbrothers and her stepfather. Maggie sets out to learn more about what had happened twenty five years previously in an area that looked totally different and from people who had died, moved, or couldn’t remember. She immediately realized some people were lying to her and knew more than they would admit. “But even lies yield grains of something useful if you sift them carefully enough.”
Within a few days, there is another death (Suicide? Murder?), one of the sisters is kidnapped, and Maggie is assaulted.
The book is a fast-read with a good story line. M. Ruth Myers’s descriptions make it easy to actually visualize the scenes and understand the times (“The shiny pink of her lips had come from a tube, but she didn’t look cheap, just up-to-date and fresh and eager.”
It includes the typical sassy wit found in the previous books in the series “Listen, you dope, you need to come back later,” the woman who yanked the door open said in a rush.” “Gee, people usually get to know me before they call me a dope.”
My main criticism is the repetition of information as Maggie reviews what she knows.
I’ve read all the books in the series and enjoyed them. ( )

Like I said in other reviews, I’m a big Maggie Sullivan fan. I like her style. The characters are always unique. I pick her books up and want to finish them right then. I have read nearly all of them and will continue to read Myers’ books. ( )

On M. Ruth Myers’ website, the author claims her books have “strong women–small guns–smart dialogue.” And Don’t Dare a Dame, the third book in the Maggie Sullivan detective series, makes good on those claims. And then some.

Set during the Depression Era in Dayton, Ohio, Don’t Dare a Dame starts off in classic P.I. form with Maggie Sullivan taking a seemingly dead-end case. The Vanhorn Sisters, two sweet spinsters, one of them blind, hire Maggie to look into the disappearance of their father, who vanished some quarter of century ago during the Great Flood of 1913. The investigation immediately turns deadly when the Vanhorn’s stepfather–and Maggie’s chief suspect–commits suicide, and then she gets hauled before the Chief of Police for asking too many questions. From there, the pot really begins to boil as Maggie discovers that the Vanhorn sisters’ suspicions are justified: their father was, indeed, murdered; the only question is: who is the killer? But before Maggie can identify the killer and bring justice to the Vanhorn’s, her P.I. license, her livelihood, and her life will be put at risk.

Myers definitely makes good on the “strong women” in this novel, especially the protagonist Maggie Sullivan. Tough and pretty with a smart mouth and a strong moral compass, Sullivan is a “dame” a reader can root for. This is the passage in chapter one that really sold me on this character when Sullivan takes a bully down:

I hated to persuade him, but Neal seemed like one of those guys who needed taking down a peg or two. I gave him a quick little kitten jab in the snoot. Not enough to break it, just enough to start blood gushing down to his chin and get his attention. . .’Don’t drip on the rug on your way out,’ I said.

Now that’s my kind of detective, but if you remain unconvinced of her toughness, here’s a great exchange between Sullivan and one of her operatives after she’s caught a beating herself:

“Holy smokes, Sis! Someone roughed you up bad.”

“Yeah, but I shot him,” I said to allay his dismay. ..

“Was it Cy Warren’s mugs did it?”

“Nah,” I lied. “Some girls have a fan club. The one they started for me is people lining up to break my nose.”

But it’s not only Sullivan’s toughness and sharp tongue that make this an enjoyable read. It’s also the setting. The descriptions of the area, the secondary characters and how they act, speak, and think, and the police procedural aspects of the novel: all of these elements are authentic and highly readable. And when you add those elements with a formidable lead character and a page-turning plot, it all adds up to a great mystery.

Maggie Sullivan is in the running for my favorite new P.I. series, and I’ve already downloaded Tough Cookie to my Kindle. Don’t Dare a Dame, which was recently nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Indie P.I. novel,has everything working for it. Go buy it. You will not be sorry. ( )

Don’t Dare a Dame by M. Ruth Myers was fun to read. This is a sleuth novel that pulled me in, involved me without my realizing it, although I was thinking about the story when I couldn’t be reading it.

This is a mystery told in the voice of private investigator, Maggie Sullivan, who has intelligence, heart, courage, and determination. She takes the reader on a delightful journey – tense at times, loaded with clues and hints and glorious details and trails and situations. And surprises. And drama.

Set in the 1930′s to 1940′s, Don’t Dare a Dame starts with Maggie saying: Two old maids who wanted to hire me had asked me to tea, so I’d treated my nails to a fresh coat of raspberry pink and put on a hat that matched and a Smith & Wesson that didn’t. This shows the reader right away that here is a woman who likes looking like a woman but who takes her job seriously and is ready to do business at any time.

Maggie finds herself investigating the decades-old disappearance of a man, unsure if she will find anything at all regarding that mystery since she suspects all clues would likely be gone by then. Through her curiosity, compassion, determination, and her skill as a private eye, she uncovers more than she first imagined could be connected. In so doing, she upsets some respected people and endangers not only herself but her clients.

Don’t Dare a Dame by M. Ruth Myers is a good story that keeps the reader interested. There’s some swearing but it is not over the top.

Don’t Dare a Dame is the third book in the Maggie Sullivan mysteries. If this is the genre you enjoy, judging by this volume it would be well worth your while to read the whole series. ( )