The Dame is the second of four Alan Grofield mystery novels by Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake. The Dame follows The Damsel and the eighth Parker novel The Handle. The Dame is a fun, light read where Westlake’s humor is almost as present as it is in the Dortmunder heist novels.
Following the events in The Damsel where Grofield had to rescue a damsel in distress and deal with a South American dictator, the heist driver finds himself in Puerto Rico to meet a potential client. The client displeases him and Grofield turns down the job. The turned down client turns up dead and her husband, mob boss Danamato thinks Grofield did it.
This is a locked room mystery with a chase scene in the middle of it. As locked room mystery goes it is a bit on the weak side. Fortunately, Richard Stark and Alan Grofield keep the reader interested with solid pacing and decent secondary characters.
This Alan Grofield mystery may not be as good as the last and best in the series Lemons Never Lie but it is a fun read.
The Dame is followed by the comic spy novel The Blackbird which is a better read.
The Dame
An Alan Grofield novel
Richard Stark
Donald E. Westlake
Originally published 1969
University of Chicago Press
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