Book Review: “Dead On The Money” by Venita Louise. Author, Venita Louise takes the reader on a journey back in time in her crime suspense novel…“Dead On The Money”.
A time of innocence, a time before television, Bill Haley and his Comets and Elvis Presley. A time when the big bands of Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller were the musical heroes of a war torn generation.
The setting and research are so beautifully penned that the innocence or lack of it of the females that differentiated between Dames and Ladies are drawn with a masterful touch. The hairstyles of the men and women that people this novel, their clothing, and their dialogue are so perfect that there is no jarring sense of any other decade impeding.
It takes a clever hand to allow a reader impeded by the current technology to suspend disbelief so completely, Author Venita Louise has not merely created a world of memories for folks that may remember those days, she has cleverly reconstructed a time and place that makes even the most tech savvy of us hunger for a time long gone. A time when the word Damn was uttered in a movie and caused shock waves throughout the viewing public.
Meet Hortense Olivia Tully a librarian and a beautiful woman, whose knack for getting into serious trouble keeps her male admirer Detective Tom Trask on his toes and confused by more than his growing need to have her in his life permanently. Hortense or Olivia as she prefers to be known innocently hears the last words of a dying man, those words and their meaning begin a series of events including mistaken identity, kidnapping attempted murder, and finally murder of a woman…I will not say who, that will spoil this well written book for you, and it’s simply too enjoyable to do that.
The Dance clubs, torch singers, and fabulous period dialogue will enchant even the most hardened among readers. If you want to take a trip down a lane you may have never walked before, take this one. It sparkles with humor, and impresses with its unfailingly excellent research and settings.
Love a good fast-paced read? Of course you do. “Dead On The Money” qualifies … and then some.
