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F. BOOK REVIEWS
F1.1. Anderson, Isaac. New York Times Book Review 46, no. 27 (July 6, 1941): 10.
“The story has plenty of swift, violent action and a startling finish. The tax details, in case you are worrying are made clear enough so that even the layman can understand them.”F1.2 “Book of the Week,” San Francisco News [?] (July 1941)
“... one of the best mystery stories we ever read. Written in the breezy, conversational style of The Thin Man ...” [n.b.: unlocated and unconfirmed citation]F1.3. Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service (1942) [citation needed]
“Good rough tough version of California chicanery.” Full review onlineF1.4. Caen, Herb. San Francisco Chronicle (June 2, 1941): 15.
“Macmillan will bring out (in July) a moiduh mystery with a Thin Mannish S.F. background; it’s called ‘Death and Taxes,’ and was written by David Dodge, a local accountant, f’goshsakes ...”F1.5. Christian Century 58, no. 31 (July 30, 1941): 959.
“Sophisticated melodrama ... Nothing would have happened if the bootlegger’s daughter had not been a dizzy blonde.”F1.6. Cuppy, Will. New York Herald Tribune Books 17, no. 47 (July 20, 1941): 9.
“This rapid-fire affair should give you some new ideas on refunds, blondes, murder in various forms, bootlegging, heavy drinking and that sort of thing ... Fast and easy to read.”F1.7. Doyle, Edward Dermot. This World [San Francisco Chronicle] (July 20, 1941): 20.
“This department met and liked David Dodge even before ‘Death and Taxes’ was published. Even before we read the book ... The story, incidentally, is laid in San Francisco and if you’ve ever wondered how it would be to travel across the Bay Bridge at 80 miles an hour you can find that out, too. Highly recommended.”F1.8. New Yorker 17, no. 22 (July 12, 1941): 72.
“... fine, meaty story involving bootlegging and a half-million dollars in taxes.”F1.9. Oakland Tribune (July 27, 1941): B4.
“With his first detective story, David Dodge of San Francisco has barged with a becoming audacity into the circles of the elect. It is the book, not the author, that is rapid, audacious and even insolent. For the book is of the plain-spoken, hit-’em-hard and well concocted school that we associate with Daschiel [sic] Hammett, in type, and Myrna Loy on the screen.”F1.10. Time 38, no. 5 (Aug. 4, 1941): 76.
“Hard-hitting and well-knit—the ‘find’ of the month.”F2.1. Anderson, Isaac. New York Times Book Review 47, no. 29 (July 19, 1942): 16.
“The story is full of unexpected developments and lively action.”F2.2. Boorstin, Ruth. “Slightly Less Modest,” Washington Post (Aug. 23, 1942): L10.
“What little ‘Shear the Black Sheep’ lacks in suspense, it more than makes up for in sophistication.”F2.3. Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service (1941) [citation needed]
“Sets a good masculine pace and holds right to it.” Full review onlineF2.4. Christian Century 59, no. 29 (July 22, 1942): 911.
“Summer fiction of the better sort. ...The reader will get no helpful hints toward making his next income tax returns, but he will have a lot of fun following Jim Whitney’s adventures in untangling a snarl of a wholly different character.”F2.5. Cuppy, Will. New York Herald Tribune Books 18, no. 47 (July 19, 1942): 12.
“Better add David Dodge to your list of household necessities, if you care for vigorous puzzles with the business touch and plenty of other trimmings.”F2.6. Lewis, Steve. “Shear the Black Sheep,” Mystery*File, March 2006. http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1231
“It is all sort of a light-hearted tale, in a way, but then a murder occurs, and a screwy case gets even screwier – in a hard-boiled kind of fashion.”F2.7. New Yorker 18, no. 22 (July 18, 1942): 60.
“If the author, who is C.P.A. himself, can figure out tax exemptions as well as he does mysteries, we must all nobly resist any impulse to drop in to see him before next March 15th.”F2.8. Saturday Review of Literature 25, no. 36 (Sept. 5, 1942): 8.
“Mr. Dodge’s dedication reads, ‘This is for Monnie.’ We appreciate the absolute honesty of these words, and we hope he makes a lot of it ... Of its type, all you can desire!”F2.8. “Second Hit by Local Author,” Oakland Tribune (July 26, 1942): B4.
“Accountants are popularly supposed to be dry-as-dust fellows whose chief enjoyment comes from adding unending columns of figures and in whose veins run streams of red and black ink. Perhaps they are, and David Dodge is merely the exception that makes the rule; perhaps it is merely a case of dual personality; at any rate the fact remains that Dodge has turned out another detective yarn that races along like the wind.”F3. Bullets for the Bridegroom
F3.1. Anderson, Isaac. New York Times Book Review 49, no. 34 (Aug. 20, 1944): 18.
“Much blood is shed, and most of it comes from persons who are ripe for the gallows.”F3.2. Boucher, Anthony. San Francisco Chronicle (Aug. 20, 1944). Reprinted: Nevins, Francis M., ed. The Anthony Boucher Chronicles. Shreveport, La.: Ramble House, 2005: 187.
“Grand Nevada color, furious action, and the zestful, biting Dodge prose.”F3.3. Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service 12 (June 1, 1944): 241 [citation verification needed]
“Swift and stylish tale of adventure.” Full review onlineF3.4. Bullock, Elizabeth. Chicago Sun Book Week 2, no. 50 (Oct. 8, 1944): 10.
“James Whitney and Kitty McLeod, arriving in Reno at 4 in the morning, want to get married right away and settle down in a hotel for a quiet honeymoon. They get married and settle down right into a mess of trouble.”F3.5. Cuppy, Will. New York Herald Tribune Books 20, no. 51 (Aug. 13, 1944): 14.
“Remember James Whitney, income-tax consultant, and his perennial sweetheart, Kitty MacLeod? This time they started for Reno to get married before Whit joined the armed forces, but life for them is not so simple as that. They ran into a nest of hideous villains, one of whom may be a Nazi ...”F3.6. “New Chills for Hot Day Hawkshaws,” Washington Post (Aug. 27, 1944): S4.
“Coroner’s Report: This story follows the usual spy hunt formula, with G-Men, disguised as bums, newspaper reporters and glamour girls, but the Reno gambling-joint background lends a certain amount of novelty to the occasion. Plenty of excitement and shooting.”F3.7. New Yorker 20, no. 27 (Aug. 19, 1944): 60.
“Fast and exciting.”F4.1. Anderson, Isaac. New York Times Book Review 52, no. 3 (Jan. 19, 1947): 33.
“Individual revenge is not an ideal motive for a detective, but in this case it makes an exciting story with enough violence and murder to satisfy the most bloodthirsty reader.”F4.2. Boucher, Anthony. This World [San Francisco Chronicle] 10, no. 37 (Jan. 19, 1947): 19. Reprinted: Nevins, Francis M., ed. The Anthony Boucher Chronicles. Shreveport, La.: Ramble House, 2005: 278-279.
“Tough, colorful story, admirably and terrifyingly told.”F4.3. Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service 14 (Sept. 1, 1946): 437 [citation verification needed]
“Hardmouthed, hardhitting, this is superior.” Full review onlineF4.4. Cuppy, Will. New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review 23, no. 21 (Jan. 12, 1947): 16.
“Lively semi-tough item continuing the adventures of Whit Whitney, San Francisco tax consultant.”F4.5. Napoli, Don. “It Ain’t Hay,” Reading California Fiction, December 5, 2007. http://readingcalifornia.typepad.com/reading_california_fictio/2007/12/it-aint-hay.html
“The book, which is dedicated to California’s narcotics enforcement agents, just barely survives its exaggerated portrayal of marijuana’s evil effects. The author makes some outrageous claims here, which probably seemed just as silly in 1946 [as] they do now ... All in all, this is a book that only drug warriors will love.”F4.6. Oakland Tribune (Feb. 2, 1947): 3C.
“Of all things, it’s an income tax expert this time who gets involved with murder, marijuana, and assorted high crimes and misdemeanors.”F4.7. Sandoe, James. Chicago Sun Book Week 5, no. 12 (Jan. 12, 1947): 6.
“... a thriller that, without insisting upon it very formally, makes plain by livid illustration how appallingly nasty a weed marijuana is. And the tale is one of those rare tough ones in which the toughness is as convincing as it is unstinting. The facetiousness of the title is very grim indeed and Dodge’s narrative as tight and rapid as its sound predecessors.”F4.8. Saturday Review of Literature 30, no. 3 (Jan. 18, 1947): 28.
“Top brackets.”
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