Blue Murder is not held in especially high regard among readers of hard-boiled crime fiction in general or even Robert Leslie Bellem's fan base in particular. (They prefer the Dan Turner stories by a mile.) Published in 1938, four years after Dashiell Hammett's final novel and one year before Raymond Chandler's first, this modest little book is written in the two-fisted Black Mask style that had become popular during the '20s. Bellem, an extremely prolific short story author (who also wrote for television, films and comic strips), penned only a few novels; this was his long-form debut and I found it quite entertaining.

What fans like best about the Dan Turner stories is the absurd language ("private skulk" for private detective; "roscoes" for handguns; "whatchamacallems" for breasts) that was Bellem's specialty. Unfortunately, he became so preoccupied with this synthetic slang that it got in the way of his storytelling, and Bellem was a pretty good storyteller otherwise. Blue Murder contains a few such indulgences (roscoes tend to say "Chow-chow!" or "Chud-chud-chud!" rather than simply "Bang!" or "Pow!"), but they don't become a hindrance to the momentum of the novel. Too dumb to be a good private eye, Duke Pizzatello is nonetheless amiable and determined, and I guarantee that his Los Angeles misadventures won't bore you. Vintage pulp aficionados can't go wrong with this book.

By the way, if you're curious about the Dan Turner stories, check out The Great American Detective (William Kittredge and Steven M. Krauzer, eds.) for "The Lake of the Left-Hand Moon." It's one of the better examples of what most fans consider to be prime Bellem. ( )