Alas, I'll be the first naysayer. I read "Heads You Lose"
(aka "Blood on the Black Market"), published in 1943. The
prose felt pretty dated to me. It also seemed sort of
sentimentally overcharged. Shayne reminded me a bit of Bart
Spicer's Carny Wild (though I've read only one of that
series). Shayne reminds me a little of a comic book
(apologies) hero--everyone knows him, he has a direct line to
the chief of police, etc. The datedness of the content--WWII
black market--doesn't bother me, but how the story and
characters unfold. Leaving Hammett and Chandler aside, two
other earlier writers that we've read have aged better in my
mind: Howard Browne and Latimer. Doug
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