I love our library and sometimes I just browse around looking for something that just jumps out into my hands. This was it, jumping into my hands earlier this week and I'm glad it did because it was a fun read. With the guys away mostly in Europe but all over the world during WWII, Faye Quick who worked for A Detective Agency now held down the fort at home for Woody Mason, the agency's owner. Woody trained Faye everything including how to "stake out," how to shoot a gun and before he left, she had her P.I. license and was her own boss. It was all in an effort to keep the doors open while he was overseas doing his patriotic duty. While the book was written in 2005, Scoppettone did a thorough job researching the lingo of the first five years of the '40's decade. The problem I had and it knocked the book from four to three stars, is the author was exhaustive in her use of the vernacular. Almost every word the letter "g" was dropped; instead of 'using' it was usin; instead of having it was havin. She used no apostrophe which as we know, indicates to the reader that a letter is missing...such as havin' or usin' (which is why I didn't put those words in apostrophes or quotes in the last sentence.) The setting was NYC...and I guess she was trying to show how they talked. I've come across this before in books but it's for a few short sentences which is not bothersome. In this 255 page book, it starts on page one and never lets up until it's over so it took me much longer to read the book than it should have. What happens is that I end up re-reading the entire sentence because my eye is trained to see the "g" or the apostrophe. Then there's the "ya" instead of you and the "yor" for your or you're. It's a pain in the neck to read the same sentence twice because Scoppettone likes to be clever. She is making me work unnecessarily so I question whether I want to read another book written by her unless she dropped that annoying kind of writing. While I think Scoppettone is trying to be clever rather than lazy, I loved this blog post by my friend and author of The Past Never End, Jackson Burnett.As an author, it's his opinion (which I strongly agree with) that lack of proper use of punctuation pains the reader but makes the writing easier for the author. This is pertinent since an apostrophe is punctation but Scoppettone goes one better with the spelling using the vernacular. And it made me, the reader tired reading her book. Here's the blog: G@##&$~t!!!!! Use Quotation Marks!Oh, lastly, although it was a pretty good "who dun it" I got the character early on which I seldom happens to me. Therefore I question how good a mystery it really was. See for yourself but checkout from the library says this dame who loves hard-boiled.
In 1943 New York, almost all the young, able-bodied men have gone overseas to fight the good fight. This leaves jobs open for women, showcasing their ability to survive, thrive, and blossom under pressure. Faye Quick, a 26-year-old steno-turned-detective, gets her first murder case, and it's a doozy. The skirt whose murder she was hired to solve has woven a tangled web of boyfriends, secrets, and lies.This Dame for Hire is a great read that leaves you turning pages to find out whodunit and what Faye is going to come up with next. Few take her seriously, but she uses it to her advantage, and it's a great tale of a woman's strength, trials and successes in a man's world.If you like detective stories that are a little on the fun side, and not all grit and body count, you'll love this first book about Faye Quick. The hard-boiled slang is consistent throughout the book, so if you like reading about bang-tails, fins, and a shamus with a gat that'll get you put in bracelets, you'll love Faye Quick and This Dame for Hire.
Do You like book This Dame For Hire (2006)?
Since this book was written in that old 30s/40s/whatever crime language, it was kind of hard to follow at first. Once I got past that it was an okay story. Kind of slow at first. A few curve balls that were a little out there, like the neighbor being involved somehow. There were just too many suspects at one point. I originally thought it might be a member of the family, and it just kept straying away and back and weirdly before coming back to that.
—Laura
As tough guy private eyes go, Faye Quick does an ok job. She is holding down the business while the real owner is defending the country overseas during the WWII. I liked the novelty of having a woman be the PI and some of the period details, but cannot say this book bowled me over. The mystery was solid but seemed to go on for just a bit too long. The jargon speak (e.g. Waddya lookin at?) gets a bit tiring after a while. I think I might, in future, try getting one of this series as a book-on-tape and see what I think. At any rate, if you are looking for a light weight PI story and a change of pace, you could do worse.
—Teresa
