What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder With Love
Could this beautiful, passionate girl be the ruthless killer he was looking for?
Murder With Love is the first adventure for PI John Church and, according to Mystery File, "it's one of those cases that gets him so personally involved that you wonder when it's over whether there will ever be another one." There was one more, Murder on her Mind, but that was the end for this long-lost, hard-boiled crime series, finally back-in-print after 60 years.
Church is in Las Vegas, hot on the trail of Mira Whitney, a woman who seduces men, cleans them out of all their valuables, and flees. But now she's raising her game to blackmail...and maybe even murder. There are two sides to Mira, though, that he could fall for, either into her bed or into a grave, or maybe both.
Vechel Howard was a pseudonym for Howard Vechel Rigsby (1909-1975), who wrote in a variety of genres, including westerns and gothic romances.
Murder With Love is the first adventure for PI John Church and, according to Mystery File, "it's one of those cases that gets him so personally involved that you wonder when it's over whether there will ever be another one." There was one more, Murder on her Mind, but that was the end for this long-lost, hard-boiled crime series, finally back-in-print after 60 years.
Church is in Las Vegas, hot on the trail of Mira Whitney, a woman who seduces men, cleans them out of all their valuables, and flees. But now she's raising her game to blackmail...and maybe even murder. There are two sides to Mira, though, that he could fall for, either into her bed or into a grave, or maybe both.
Vechel Howard was a pseudonym for Howard Vechel Rigsby (1909-1975), who wrote in a variety of genres, including westerns and gothic romances.
135 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
4 people want to read
About the author
Vechel Howard
20 books2 followersVechel Howard Rigsby was an American author and playwright. He also published under the pseudonym Howard Rigsby.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 15, 2025
Original cover by Charles Binger. Set in Las Vegas, Nevada, “Murder With Love” opens with Private detective Johnny Church searching for his client’s disappearing wife, Mira Whitney née Cheever, who is there to engage in divorce proceedings. His client wants the engagement ring back as it was a family heirloom and wants to make sure Mira is okay. Mira has the reputation of having the boys loose their wits at one look at her and has been collecting suitors left and right. The search for Mira turns up additional clients who still want to pursue her as well as violent blackmailers and empty graves out in the desert wilderness.
Rigsby writing as Vechel Howard thereafter put out one more Johnny Church mystery, this time set in Mexico, also published by Fawcett Gold Medal. He also put out a number of westerns under the Howard name. As Howard Rigsby himself, he published westerns, literary pieces, and a handful of crime fiction including Kill and Tell, Murder for the Holidays, and Lucinda, which was also a Gold Medal paperback original.
Rigsby writing as Vechel Howard thereafter put out one more Johnny Church mystery, this time set in Mexico, also published by Fawcett Gold Medal. He also put out a number of westerns under the Howard name. As Howard Rigsby himself, he published westerns, literary pieces, and a handful of crime fiction including Kill and Tell, Murder for the Holidays, and Lucinda, which was also a Gold Medal paperback original.
December 11, 2023
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
Murder With Love is another example of publishing misdirection - catching our eye with swimsuited lovers in a salacious waterfront embrace that actually masks a noteworthy Chandler/Hammett private-eye style mystery with classic bones. Written in 1959, this first mystery starring Johnny Church (the second being Murder On Her Mind, published the same year) takes place in the heat of Las Vegas, surrounded by miles of deserted sand with nary a boat, a beach, or waterfront in sight.
Working for the Worldwide Detective Agency (San Francisco office), Johnny Church leisurely drives his convertible down the Las Vegas Strip to the exclusive neighbourhood of Mrs. Joy Taliaferro.
His client's young fiancé Mira has gone missing (perhaps taking the Jag he bought her) and he wants his emerald-and-diamond engagement ring back - the strongest lead a string of recent phone calls.
Neither Mrs. Taliaferro, nor her playful, sun-kissed twin daughters know anything, but then again... they've heard rumour she has done this before in Cannes, St. Tropez, and Acapulco - word does get around the resorts. Next stop: a shady divorce lawyer who also suffers from vague memory, yet knows enough to have him followed. Another man comes forward; he has also been taken after also planning to marry Mira. Headlining casino singer Mitch Barry calls Johnny in to uncover his blackmailer, and Church finds the cases are connected. It seems every man who meets Mira is magnetically enraptured by her, and without her even being found, Church himself is falling for her.
At only 125 pages, things quickly turn south as the liars fight to outsmart each other, with Mrs. Joy Taliaferro outshining them all to reveal herself one of the nastiest, two-faced characters I've had the pleasure to read in a long time. Church cannot outrun the ensuing whirlpool of explosive violence that leaves him broken and gasping with the explicit warning: "get out of town".
Although Mira is the focus of the central case, as well as every man's desire, at times she seems so elusive as to not even exist. Church finds himself caught in the fantasy of her allure enough that I wondered if this would have the same twist as the classic Vera Caspary novel Laura - but the actual resolution was something quite surprising. Johnnie's laidback style belies a focused detective who rolls with the punches, even if he doesn't always see them coming, and Howard creates a great sense of the Las Vegas neighbourhoods that surround the famous strip.
Recommended for fans of hard-boiled private eyes.
Vechel Howard is a pseudonym used by novelist Howard Rigsby, usually for his western titles. As Rigsby, he had many successes including "Murder for the Holidays" and "Lucinda", ranked one of the best detective novels of 1954.
Murder With Love is another example of publishing misdirection - catching our eye with swimsuited lovers in a salacious waterfront embrace that actually masks a noteworthy Chandler/Hammett private-eye style mystery with classic bones. Written in 1959, this first mystery starring Johnny Church (the second being Murder On Her Mind, published the same year) takes place in the heat of Las Vegas, surrounded by miles of deserted sand with nary a boat, a beach, or waterfront in sight.
Working for the Worldwide Detective Agency (San Francisco office), Johnny Church leisurely drives his convertible down the Las Vegas Strip to the exclusive neighbourhood of Mrs. Joy Taliaferro.
His client's young fiancé Mira has gone missing (perhaps taking the Jag he bought her) and he wants his emerald-and-diamond engagement ring back - the strongest lead a string of recent phone calls.
Neither Mrs. Taliaferro, nor her playful, sun-kissed twin daughters know anything, but then again... they've heard rumour she has done this before in Cannes, St. Tropez, and Acapulco - word does get around the resorts. Next stop: a shady divorce lawyer who also suffers from vague memory, yet knows enough to have him followed. Another man comes forward; he has also been taken after also planning to marry Mira. Headlining casino singer Mitch Barry calls Johnny in to uncover his blackmailer, and Church finds the cases are connected. It seems every man who meets Mira is magnetically enraptured by her, and without her even being found, Church himself is falling for her.
At only 125 pages, things quickly turn south as the liars fight to outsmart each other, with Mrs. Joy Taliaferro outshining them all to reveal herself one of the nastiest, two-faced characters I've had the pleasure to read in a long time. Church cannot outrun the ensuing whirlpool of explosive violence that leaves him broken and gasping with the explicit warning: "get out of town".
Although Mira is the focus of the central case, as well as every man's desire, at times she seems so elusive as to not even exist. Church finds himself caught in the fantasy of her allure enough that I wondered if this would have the same twist as the classic Vera Caspary novel Laura - but the actual resolution was something quite surprising. Johnnie's laidback style belies a focused detective who rolls with the punches, even if he doesn't always see them coming, and Howard creates a great sense of the Las Vegas neighbourhoods that surround the famous strip.
Recommended for fans of hard-boiled private eyes.
Vechel Howard is a pseudonym used by novelist Howard Rigsby, usually for his western titles. As Rigsby, he had many successes including "Murder for the Holidays" and "Lucinda", ranked one of the best detective novels of 1954.
November 3, 2019
Some vivid writing and the Las Vegas in the 50s setting make this paperback an ok read. The plot is so so, the hero a stiff, and the femme fatale remains offstage. If you have it, read it and keep your expectations low.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews