Days before the Pearl Harbor attack plunges the U.S. into World War II, private eye Maggie Sullivan is hired to find a missing engineer in Dayton, Ohio. Has Gil Tremain been kidnapped, or has he turned traitor — to his employer and maybe his country?
As Maggie pieces together his last movements, she finds there are secrets the man’s ex-wife and his employers don’t want uncovered. Maggie herself is attacked and an innocent witness is murdered. The ruthlessness of her opponent — or opponents — becomes even clearer when there’s an attempt to abduct Tremain’s young daughter. Still more chilling, Maggie’s investigation suddenly attracts the attention of a local crime kingpin.
The attack on Pearl Harbor presses every cop in the city into service protecting manufacturing and research facilities. Stunned by the knowledge their nation will soon be at war, even fearful the mainland itself will be bombed, people cling to family and friends. Schedules and routines shatter. Amid the disruption, alone and aware she can’t count on help from the police, Maggie races to save a man who has now become a liability to his captors.
M. Ruth Myers is a Shamus Award winning mystery writer. Her Maggie Sullivan mystery series features a private eye in Dayton, Ohio in the years 1938-1946.
Other novels by the author, who has also written as Mary Ruth Myers, have been translated, optioned for television and condensed in Good Housekeeping. They also have been used in college classes in Japan. She has taught at writers’ conferences across the country including the Antioch, Cape Cod and Mark Twain conferences.
Myers was born in Warrensburg, MO. When she was nine the family moved to Wyoming where she graduated from Cheyenne Central High School. After earning a Bachelor of Journalism degree at the University of Missouri J-School she worked as a reporter and feature writer on daily papers in Michigan and Ohio.
She and her husband are long-time Ohio residents with one grown daughter.
When not writing or reading, Myers cooks and plays Irish traditional music on an Anglo concertina. She confesses to more enthusiasm than skill.
2022 bk 44: Myers has done it again. Hired to find a missing engineer, Sullivan stumbles on a case of industrial espionage and a mobster looking for a defaulter on a loan. Throughout the book set in the first week of December 1941, is the concern for a possible war. But Maggie knows she can't worry about the future - it is the now that concerns her and the worry that time might be running out on the missing man. An attempted abduction, a former speakeasy, and a cleaning lady all contain important clues that others seem to be missing. Excellent read!
I keep saying the same thing after each book, another fun good read. I do like the new character that was introduced of Tabby Warren. I forget how age seem to accelerate back in those days. At first they made it seem like Tabby was a lot older, I pictured at least in her 60s but she was spunky and in her early to mid 40s. Another thing that I realized it was forgotten in this book was our good little funny character of the newspaper boy. Hope he’s back in the next one.
I’ve liked this series since the first book. This entry did nothing to change that.
Maggie’s investigating the disappearance of an engineer who may have been taken for any one of a dozen reasons. It’s yuletide, so everyone wants the case solved in time for the holidays. Maggie, being Maggie, charges in where angels fear to tread, almost getting her you-know-what kicked half a dozen times before she saves the day.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor casts a pall over the last third of the story. Myers did a great job delivering the impact the attack had on middle America without beating the reader over the head with it, and the book ends on a down note as the people recognize the world they knew has changed.
Another great entry into this series, and its building up to what I think is the author's main interest in writing these.
This time, Detective Sullivan, PI, lands a case to find a missing man. The story winds about in unexpected directions and is full of the fun stuff we've come to expect from this author: smart writing, clever wordplay, a very likable and capable protagonist who doesn't step outside her historical setting, and a terrific setting with interesting side characters.
Again, I figured out who the bad guy was early, but the actual whys and hows were obscure until the end. This is a sharper, better book than the previous, back to the pattern of the first three. There are a couple of unanswered questions but they are not significant to the main storyline.
Maggie Sullivan is the kind of spirited woman I want to be when I grow up. She is a private investigator in 1940 when women didn’t go around carrying guns or owning their own car. Her father was a policeman and she hangs out with lots of cops, one Michael Connelly is kinda ‘sweet on her’ and he sends money home to his family in Ireland. The family is his mother and younger siblings...not a wife. Anyway, Maggie is spunky, smart, and not afraid to take on the chief of police. Why? Because she already solved several homicides which helped his record. He may be cranky but he isn’t very creative. She knows his weakness and how to exploit it to her advantage. This Book #5 which I just discovered is another good one in the series. She is tracking down an engineer who has disappeared with the secrets of his company’s latest invention. His boss is worried. Don’t worry, Maggie saves the day! Now I’m off to Book 6 and 7. I missed the release of these latest 3 books but I’ll be on the lookout for Book 8. Maggie is the kind of protagonist we need.
This is so far the best book of the series! Maggie is hired to search for a missing employee. She ends up confronting an old nemesis that has no respect for her. The book takes place in December 1941 just as WWII is starting. I look forward to seeing how WWII is going to affect Maggie. I also loved the 2 new characters introduced in this book: Tabby and Jasper! Maybe Maggie should hire these 2 to join her agency. They bring some unique skills that Maggie may need in the future, especially after what Maggie does to one of the bad guys that her nemesis won't appreciate.
A great series that has managed to just get better. Myers excels at world-building - I feel like I'm emerging from 1941 every time I put the book down. And the handling of Pearl Harbor... masterfully done, with the feeling that a war that was so remote is now beating down the front door, even in Ohio.
Maggie Sullivan was a rarity: a self-confident, female private investigator in the early 1940s. In her mid-20s, she lived in a rooming house and operated her own one-person business in Dayton, Ohio. She was bright, competent, sassy, and knew how to get into locked doors. Sometimes, she was pretty good at defending herself. In maximum Moxie, Loren Collingswood, co-owner of a company that developed technology, came to her to try to locate one of their employees. They were days away from a major meeting about one of their discoveries. Gil Tremain, the engineer who developed it and had the necessary information to complete the project, hadn't shown up for work for couple days. While Collingswood was speaking to her, Maggie spotted unusual motion from one of his jacket pockets. It was a snake which she promptly shot. Luckily Collingswood had his medication with him so he did not have a heart attack. Neither Collingswood’s partner, Frank Scott, nor anyone else, seem to know where Tremain was. They didn't know if he had taken the information to sell to someone else but when she went to Tremain's apartment and discovered it had been ransacked, she suspected he had not disappeared willingly. As she left the building, she learned that a woman had just been killed on the first floor. Later on she was followed and attacked, making her more certain that Tremain had not left willingly. Finding him became more important and figuring out the motive was a primary motivator. Maggie suspected that Collingswood and Scott were withholding information. Included in the mix of characters are Collingwood's daughter, who had been dating Tremain, much to her father's chagrin, Walter Benning, proprietor of the lamp shop near where Tremain had last been seen, whose shop suddenly closed (The new for rent sign in the window gave no way to contact a rental agent.),Tabby Warren, a previous owner of the building when it was a speakeasy, and some Police Department friends. While she was solving the case, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Everyone realized that life was going to be very different as young men left their jobs to go into the military. There are a couple inconsistencies and repetitions the story particularly as she kept reviewing the case. The book starts by saying it was three days into December 1941. A few pages later she refers to a weak November light in its way through an outside window. M. Ruth Myers provides enough information to visualize the scenes without overdoing it. Ofttimes, the descriptions are biting. When describing the Collingwood's office and the receptionist she states, “A potted plant brightened one corner of her desk. Either she did terrified it into being lush and green or she watered it.” She presents insight into employee relations: “Women in offices talked about things they didn't pass on to bosses. One got a glimpse of a letter about someone being promoted, or fired, or the target of legal proceedings. That girl passed the information to others. Word spread. “Some might call gossip. A more accurate term was survival. Women were the disposables, the last to be told officially when jobs or salaries might be cut. They depended on each other for that, and for hearing when one of the men who call the shots was better avoided because he was in a nasty mood.” I have read all the Maggie Sullivan mysteries and have enjoyed reading about this feisty young woman. Her characters seem genuine and the situations might be plausible. My main criticism of the book for which I reduced my rating was the use of unnecessarily short chapters. Too often a new chapter would continue immediately the same time and place the previous chapter. I would hope readers have longer attention span.
I really like this series. I like it enough that I buy 3 or 4 books at the same time. In this one, Maggie's hired to find a missing man who is vital to a government project. The problem is that no one is being honest with her, not even the people who hired her. Even though hard at work, Maggie is looking forward to Christmas and seeing some of the beauty of the season - until December 7, 1941. It hits everyone hard, as they wonder what will happen to their friends. They know that many of them will join up and some won't come back. Fear and anxiety are emotions that everyone is feeling. I like Maggie. She's small in stature but she's what would have been known back then as one tough broad. I was right on board with her when Nico slapped her in the face because he didn't like women who didn't stay in the kitchen. I wanted to see her punch his lights out, but...maybe some day. Maggie is like the energizer bunny. She just keeps on going. A really fun series!
Ah, I can't get enough of Maggie and her pals. In this fifth full-length episode, she takes on the search for a missing engineer. Nobody is sure if he has absconded with some critical figures for his firm's project, or whether he's been kidnapped. The infamous date December 7, 1941 comes midway through this book, and impending war in the Pacific casts a sort of ominous shadow over the rest of the book.
I liked the new or story-specific characters, especially Tabby Warren, former owner of a building that was used as a speakeasy during Prohibition. (There's something really great about the way Ms Myers writes these strong women; can't quite put my finger on it, but it works for me.) During the course of her investigations, Maggie seems to always get knocked around somewhere along the line, but she can give as good as she gets when the need arises.
Now, having read the entire series, including the shorts, I'll be eagerly awaiting the next one...
This is my first Maggie Sullivan mystery, and I really liked this spunky gumshoe! The addition of socialite Tabby Warren was great, too.
Myers paints the 1940s Dayton scene well. The plot was interesting and had enough action to keep things moving. I'm not sure about the brown car that followed Maggie around, but I liked the tale. A female private detective in he 1940s must have been a very odd thing. I love how Sullivan used her feminine gender to get people talking.
I look forward to other books in the series. Is one could stand alone, for had not heard of them before encountering this title from my public library's digital shelves. I recommend the book to mystery lovers who enjoy a historical twist. While I did figure out whodunnit by mid novel, I did not know why. Thanks for keeping it entertaining Ruth, especially with cat bites and cobwebs!
In this, the 5th Maggie SullivanMystery. Maggie is hired to find an employee of an engineering firm who disappeared, and may have taken some very important calculations he was working on with him.
Set in late 1941, Maggie Sullivan is a private investigator. It's an unusual field for women in her day, and even more unusual to be as successful as she is. During the story, we have the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the event that brought the U.S. into WWII.
Ruth Meyers uses well-developed characters, some humor, and very solid storylines for her settings. Even though it's set in the late 30's to now the early 40's. While being a solid mystery, does not have the Noir feel to them of other stories set in this timeframe.
I read the initial book in M. Ruth Myers' Maggie Sullivan mystery series and found it entertaining. But this book, the fifth in the series, set on the eve of Pearl Harbor Day, is an enjoying, fast-moving romp that will satisfy any mystery fan.
An executive at a local (Dayton, Ohio) business, hires Maggie to find the near-genius who recently disappeared, along with his paperwork in solving an engineering issue for a profitable project with defense department application on the cusp of the war with Nazi Germany that everyone knows is coming. Maggie tenaciously investigates, uncovering the secrets of those closest to the absent man.
This is well-written, fast paced and a delicious read. MUST READ for any mystery fan.
I really enjoy these Maggie Sullivan PI books. She is a great character, well written and if you start at the beginning of the series you learn about her extended family of Irish American policemen, cafe owners, journalists and paper boys etc. Here she is hired to find a missing engineer who has disappeared with some important blueprints. Has he been kidnapped, has he sold out to another company, is he even alive? Maggie has a habit of attracting sundry other strong-willed women who end up being an aid in solving the case. In this one we have socialite Tabby Warren, just as feisty and no nonsense as Maggie. Once again Maggie puts herself in harms way and the background of the attack on Pearl Harbour gives a real sense of the times.
Maggie Sullivan’s new client is Loren Collingwood, who wants her to find Gil Tremain, an engineer who has disappeared from his company. The initial appointment is quite exciting, with Maggie pulling out her Smith and Wesson. Maggie has little to go on but she proceeds with unfailing persistence and, as the title makes clear, maximum moxie, even when it gets her into deadly danger. Even though I am not fond of the hard-boiled genre, Maggie is a terrific character and this is an excellent entry in the series.
I give every book by Ruth Myers a 5-star rating. The Maggie Sullivan series features a smart-talking, fast-thinking P.I. and her friends and cohorts. Sullivan is everything modern women would be in the Depression-era ’30s if we had a do-over --- employed, packing heat and smack in the middle of local crime that circumvented the P.D. Myers’ books are imaginative with sometimes unpredictable plot outcomes. Her gun-toting heroine is strong yet vulnerable, and very likable.
This is another great installment in an excellent series. Once again the characters and storyline are fantastic. This one kept me guessing for quite a awhile. I loved the plot twists. I also really enjoy the historical details throughout the book and series. I highly recommend this book to mystery fans and anyone who likes a strong female main character.
Maggie Sullivan, a lovely, sassy, WWII feminist working gal. A fun set of stories set in Dayton, Ohio from the late 1930’s through the 2nd World War. Daughter of an Irish cop, in love with an Irish cop and friendly with a plethora of oddball characters from every social stratosphere. All in all, delightfully full of moxie.
Set at the time of WWII, this book evokes that time without clobbering the reader over the head with it. It has a female lead character is what is usually male role - also without clobbering the reader over the head with it. This is my first Maggie Sullivan mystery, but I think I will go and check out the others in the series.
The build-up to the devastating events of Pearl Harbour was an apt backdrop to this mystery involving a kidnapped engineer. The way that Ruth M. Myers weaves both social and world history into the series comes to the fore in this novel. Another wonderful and exciting read, with Maggie determined to find out the truth and save a life, even if it means risking her own.
As the end of 1941 approaches Magie is employed to finding an important employee - Gil Tremain, an enginner, has he just gone walkabout or is there a sinister reason. Very enjoyable book as always, such a good read.
You won’t believe who the bad guy is in this story! I was pleasantly surprised when the reveal came and love how the author brought all the parts together in the end. I also love how things are developing between Maggie and Connelly.
Maggie Sullivan is a 1940s hard boiled private detective with a lot of moxie in Dayton, Ohio. M. Ruth Myers brings to life the 1940s in language and culture. A fun story in the style of Hammett but with a woman ahead of her time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was excellent! This was my first Maggie Sullivan book and will definitely be reading more of this series. The narration of the audiobook was excellent also. I received the audiobook from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.
As always this author keeps you wanting more books ! Characters are believable and strong. descriptions take you right into the story and need another book by this author even if your ryes are insisting on closing!