Hush, My Inner Sleuth

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Pub Date 14 May 2018 | Archive Date 15 Sep 2018

Description

In the fall of 1947, an impressionable young scholar finds herself seduced by the spirit of a Hollywood pulp detective….

 This serpentine saga opens at a New England women’s college, where the ever-playful Betty escapes a meddlesome narrator by slipping her friend a mickey and assuming her identity. Undaunted, the plucky storyteller adopts said friend—the literarily precocious Willie—and accompanies her to L.A.

 Meanwhile, the pulp-inflected ghost of Skip Ryker—a recently atomized Hollywood detective—tries in vain to solve his untimely demise. What he needs, it quickly becomes apparent, is a willing instrument.

 The ensuing collision of these disparate narratives sparks a battle royal for control of Willie’s suggestible psyche—and subsequently, movie rights to the book.

In the fall of 1947, an impressionable young scholar finds herself seduced by the spirit of a Hollywood pulp detective….

This serpentine saga opens at a New England women’s college, where the...


Advance Praise

“…Chandler-esqe prose …at times so florid, one suspects the second coming of S.J. Perelman’s parodic homage, ‘Somewhere a Roscoe…,’ complete with a luger’s ka-chows. But Meegs means business. Once Ryker’s disembodied spirit enters, the pages turn at a machine gun’s pace.”  – Kirkus Reviews

    

“Like reading Wodehouse on acid…”

      — reviewer XXSarahXX on Meegs’ debut novella, Babes at Sea.

“…Chandler-esqe prose …at times so florid, one suspects the second coming of S.J. Perelman’s parodic homage, ‘Somewhere a Roscoe…,’ complete with a luger’s ka-chows. But Meegs means business. Once...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781938710315
PRICE US$5.99 (USD)

Average rating from 6 members


Featured Reviews

A delightful tale in which a young college student takes on the identity of one of her friends and ends up running a Los Angeles private eye agency, with the ghost of the agency's former boss perched on her shoulder wisecracking in perfect 1940's noir style.

Willie Tigue and Betty Moran are students at a New England women’s college. Betty switches identities with Wille after slipping her friend a mickey and heads off to take Willie's place at a prestigious college in New York. Willie if left to head for Los Angeles to meet Betty's uncle Skip - a hard-boiled private eye with a dark past. Before she arrives, Skip is blown to pieces and acts as some sort of spirit guide adding his own interfering narration as his fake niece tries to find out who killed him.

We are introduced to a glorious bunch of diverse characters - low budget Hollywood producers, a young sleazy tabloid reporter, would be movie starlets, a Hollywood house boy who's really an FBI agent, crooked L.A. cops - and more plot twists than you can shake a corkscrew at!

The rapid fire dialogue switches from late 1940's jive to outragesous literary observations about sex, some of which would make a crowd of sailors and construction workers blush.

The action fairly races along as Willie takes the identity of her friend Betty before turning into Trixie, a fast talking, gun-toting, whisky swilling private eye who'll stoop to the lowest level to get her way.

You'll need to keep your wits about you to follow the plot and various sub plots, one of which details an incredible love story, featuring a young woman who loses 2 potential husbands in the same week.

A story that will make you smile and laugh out loud. An absolute joy to read and I do hope there's a follow-up.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Hush My Inner Sleuth is an unusual book, fueled by early Hollywood scandals, pulp detective stories, and the original hipsters and cool cats.  The framing mechanism used is very clever, but I don’t want to give the surprise away. Readers become acquainted with Willie after her friend Betty takes her place.  Gamely, Willie heads to Hollywood, where she is to work for Betty”s uncle, Skip Riker, a famous detective. Before she arrives, an explosion takes Skip out, and Willie is cast in the role of sharp talking, whiskey swigging detective.  Of course she has competing help in the form of Skip’s ghost and a strange narrator intent on commenting on her thoughts and actions. Is she in a novel? Or are novels dead now that Hollywood talkies are all the rage?


Readers are in for a wild ride, regardless of what they decide.  Hush My Inner Sleuth celebrates Hollywood in its heyday, the glory of pulp detective fiction, and the beginnings of modern feminism.  It is strange, funny, and lots of fun to read. It won’t appeal to everyone, but I expect it will have a home in an academic setting.


4 / 5


I received a copy of Hush My Inner Sleuth from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


— Crittermom

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