The Double Take

by Roy Huggins

A hard-boiled mystery story featuring Stuart Bailey, tougher than a ten-minute egg. Violence, blackmail and a beautiful dame who suddenly turned up very, very dead.

The book was the basis of the film entitled "I Love Trouble" with James Carter and Janet Blair.

Genres: Mystery, Noir, Crime, Fiction

169 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Roy Huggins (July 18, 1914 – April 3, 2002) was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files.

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1991.

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I sat down again and wondered what it was that was poking at me from deep inside. Oh, yes. Murder. And I was in it now, up to the last polka dot on my tie.”

Thanks to my GR friend Gary Inbinder for steering me to the P.I. novel with a distinct Raymond Chandler flavor. Here our shamus is Stuart Bailey who works out of something we might call a virtual office or co-op office space in the Los Angeles of post-WW II. The story opens with Bailey meeting with a business man who says he has received a call threatening to reveal information about his wife that would be detrimental to his career. He has been married for about a year and has little knowledge of his wife’s past. He wants to hire Bailey to learn whether there is anything to worry about.

Huggins spins some fine dialogue between these two and we get a nice picture of the kind of private investigator Bailey is or isn’t. He isn’t sleazy and he isn’t greedy. Huggins skill in giving us Bailey’s investigative techniques is also handled very well. “…I’ll have to handle it in my own way. If she hasn’t anything to hide, she’ll never know about me. But if there are any bodies buried she’ll know she’s being cased no matter how careful I am.” Bailey takes the job and we follow him through the case only getting what he sees, hears and reads. Bailey wanders around L.A. County and even up to Portland, Oregon putting together the scraps he learns about this woman.

The Forties “vibe” is nicely present in Huggins’ descriptions.

“She took my hat and coat and was so nice about it I wanted to tell he she could have them.”

“It was good whisky. Soft as a candle’s flame and only slightly warmer going down.”

“Portland lives on one side of the deep Willamette River and works and does its shopping on the other, so it’s a city of bridges…”

“The rug, the drapes, the chairs, even the tile of the fireplace, were blue. Everything but the bed, which was a sterile while. It was canopied in white organdy and spread with stiff white lace. It was a room without warmth, a room in which passion would be as welcome as Worcestershire sauce on a marshmallow sundae. I didn’t think it would tell me a thing.”

Speaking of Raymond Chandler, the plot is as complicated as The Big Sleep. You will find it almost impossible to get ahead of Bailey. So just enjoy the trip.

For his fine historical context and further insights, I recommend Gary’s review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


One final point: Do NOT get the Kindle version of this book unless you are willing to put up with dozens of typos. Some are obvious and some are so bad that you will be sure that you are missing something. Yeesh!

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: pretty solid 3 stars of five

The writing's a competent imitation Chandler, the plot's a competent imitation Ellery Queen, the paperback damned near disintegrated as soon as it came outta the Scary Scary Bin. It's not like the novel is *bad* but he'd've done better to tone it down a wee tidge. Gets overheated at times. Lots of times. Like, all the time.

The Franchot Tone-starring film, I Love Trouble, was mildly amusing. BUT the film's Huggins' entrée to the film/TV universe. This resulted in Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. Worth just about anything mildly off-putting in that light!

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Roy Huggins, the legendary Hollywood producer and screenwriter, started his career as a detective novelist. He was clearly a follower of Raymond Chandler -not a bad thing. Wise cracking PI Stuart Bailey gets involved over his head in this nicely plotted crime caper, meeting a slew of interesting characters, getting beat up, and doggedly chasing the twisting clues to a satisfying conclusion. The novel is certainly on par with the best of the 1940s era hard-boiled PI books that I've read.

[Gary Inbinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

First published in 1946, this is a bright little nugget from the Golden Age of hard-boiled detective fiction. A wealthy Los Angeles businessman with political ambitions receives a blackmail threat concerning his young wife's allegedly murky past. He calls on private investigator Stuart Bailey (later to appear in the popular 1950's TV series, 77 Sunset Strip). Bailey begins with a background check on the wife that soon evolves into a plot with more twists and turns than an LA canyon road. Along the way, Bailey encounters assorted low-lives, gunmen, femmes fatale, and a sharp, tough LAPD detective who's not too keen on private gumshoes.

This book was the basis for the 1948 noir mystery "I Love Trouble," and Huggins went on to a long and highly successful career writing, co-writing and producing several popular TV series including 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, The Fugitive and The Rockford files.

Huggins skill as a writer is on display in "The Double Take". Fans of Raymond Chandler will notice the similarities in the characterizations, vivid descriptions of 1940's Los Angeles, and sharp, clever dialogue. While I found the plot a bit too convoluted for my taste, and had a hard time keeping track of all the characters drifting in and out of the scene, I still highly recommend this one to fans of the classic hard-boiled detective novel.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attention all hard-boiled fans and followers
Put down now what you're reading and pick this up and read it. ASAP.

Roy Huggins had a promising career as a writer but early on went into the new burgeoning media of television.

Any of these ring a bell? 77 Sunset Strip, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.? Maverick, James Garner? (He had some very funny lines, as I remember.) The Fugitive, the TV series, with David Janssen? Hunter and The Rockford Files? If you haven't heard of any of these, then you're too young to know how to read.

It's our loss of Huggins as a writer but early television was definitely the winner.

I'm reading every book he wrote which won't be much of a feat given that he wrote only three (maybe four) books before Hollywood called.

My GR friend Still has this book above. And yes, I'm very envious. Not enough to run Still down and abscond with it but damn, I want one too.

And Still was over the moon upon learning that I was reading this. He called it a "little gem" and I agree.

A must for those of us who love hard-boiled and that would be me! And Still.

[Walt Hartmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far, far too few of these!

I've read more books then I could possibly count. Too few that have given me as much enjoyment. If you're a noir freak like myself you'll rate Raymond Chandler as the best of the best. Regrettably, he wasn't all that prolific. So, now I stumble across this guy who wrote only this single book that could give Chandler a run for his money.

The shamus here hasn't got a cool name like Phillip Marlowe, nor half the answers. He more or less bumbles around but I remember only once where he was bashed on his noggin and, amazingly, his head throbbed for a number of days, unlike so many who get brained a half dozen times in two days and shake each off forty minutes later with three fingers of whiskey.

Essentially, I've been quite lucky finding this book and not wasting more than a month to decide to delve into it. The dialogue might have been written by Chandler. Sharp, pithy. For me, the plot was a tad difficult to follow, though had I read it without a pause or two, there'd have been less of a problem. The problem is mine, not that of the author.

Though Huggins limited himself to this one book, he's quite a pedigree. Check Wikipedia. His involvement in great television shows, many of the very best, apply demonstrates Roy wasn't merely a one shot wonder.

Read this if you're a noir aficionado. You'll not be disappointed.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a slew of Marlowe-esque PIs to emerge post-war (Think Max Thursday, Thomas Dewey's "Mac," and of course, Lew Archer)- Stuart Bailey went on to fame as a TV PI- I am too young to know anything about 77 Sunset Strip, which went off the air in 1964, but of course I remember The Rockford Files, which Huggins co-created with Stephen J. Cannell.

If I charted my estimation as I read, I think it went from good to great, leveled off at good again, then regained some of its greatness as it zoomed to a close. Here's an excerpt from part of the book I was really digging:

... I sat back and looked her over, starting from scratch. The blue eyes still looked like the very cradle of truth, and the wide mouth still turned upward at the corners like a Botticelli cherub. I shook my head at her. “Baby, you’re good. So good, I’m surprised they didn’t have you consign her to Afghanistan, or the Belgian Congo.”
She had been half-smiling, like someone who really enjoys her work. The smile dropped like a ballast sack and her teeth came together in a sharp little click and gleamed through half-parted lips. She didn’t say anything. I went on.
“But they gave you some really corny lines, angel. People just don’t give information like that away. If you’d come in with one shy little ‘What’s-in-it-for-me,’ I’d probably have drooled, and bought the whole bill of goods.”
Her cobalt eyes had widened and she was looking at me distantly and impersonally as you might look at a blind man. Then her eyebrows raised and she took on a look of earnest sympathy.
“Tsk, tsk. Acute cynicism.” She shook her head at me slowly. “I suppose it’s an occupational disease, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Its the people you meet. Chiselers, con-men, girls with Truth itself dawning in their big blue eyes…"

Bailey gets picked up and worked over by a psycho thug.. I think Huggins skipped over FAREWELL MY LOVELY and went straight back to THE GLASS KEY for his material, but it did seem warmed over. Actually, it is very rare for a PI to show actual symptoms of concussion, but here they are:

... I walked quietly and in the deeper shadows, hearing the dark little mallards quarreling on the water, the trolleys clamoring by on Seventh and an unbroken, shrill, keening sound in my ears which I wanted to believe was the far-off plaintive piping of the night. But it wasn’t. I’d been hearing it all day. The walk turned slowly and was leading westward now. On the last bench, where the pond broadened and became a part of the lake, there was someone sitting. He was alone, his cigarette tracing a repeated, impatient arc against the dark water beyond. His silver hair gleamed like pampas grass in the moonlight. [...] I went up on the grassy bank beyond the walk and sat down under a magnolia tree. The grass was damp, but I didn’t expect to be there long. It was only a few minutes till ten. The distant sound of music danced across the water. It came from one of the boats on the lake. I wanted to smoke. I wanted to he down and sleep. I wanted to go back and let Pop tell me about the things he saw across the water. Instead I sat and waited and counted my pulse as it hammered against my skull.

I preferred it to THE LITTLE SISTER or PLAYBACK. I think I would give Calamity Fair the edge. THE MOVING TARGET? About equal. Numerous typos in the Kindle edition, despite claims to be meticulously edited.

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Double Take is a nice and gritty little noir, packed to the gills with gumshoes, gunsels, and gals with great gams. It was easy to imagine it being made into a movie starring Robert Mitchum or Humphrey Bogart. I enjoyed it.

It has a typical noir plot involving a beautiful woman with a shady past and an attempt at blackmail that leads inevitably to murder. It kept me on my toes with its effective plotting and I enjoyed the underworld atmospherics very much.

The kindle edition of this novel is so riddled with egregious typos that it makes my Goodreads reviews look masterly in comparison. A typo or two doesn’t bother me, but these are constant and ugly enough to derail the flow of the writing. It looks like they just ran the text though some program that was supposed to format it for Kindle, and then didn’t bother to read through and clean up the messy result of that process. On the other hand, I only paid a dollar for this book, so I won’t complain too loudly.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

From 1948, Stuart Bailey's new case seemed easy enough. A young, would-be politician wanted him to discreetly investigate his wife of a couple of years. He'd received a blackmail call threatening to reveal her past. When he had not seemed to know anything about it, the caller gave him two weeks to learn the truth, then he wanted money.

The case soon developed into something. Bailey was being followed. Someone tried to buy him off. Three thugs grabbed him and worked him over pretty thoroughly, then drugged him to make him "tame." Coming out of it faster than they thought, he managed to escape. His apartment and office were searched.

Dead bodies started to turn up and the police got interested, notably his "friend," Lt. Quint.

Someone wanted him to lay, but what he was learning kept him looking. The good wife did have a past.


Huggins wrote one novel and several shorter works featuring private eye Stuart Bailey. When he got into television work, he eventually added a much different version of Bailey to his show, 77 Sunset Strip, in which Efram Zimbalist, Jr. played the role. The shorter works came out in a tie-in papaerback during the show's run.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who is Stuart Bailey? In the 1940s he was a low-rent P. I. in a shared office and a lousy apartment with a Murphy bed. By 1958, he was a suave and cosmopolitan detective to the rich and famous working out of a posh agency at 77 Sunset Strip. Bailey was the creation of Roy Huggins, who would later create some of televisions most memorable programs. In The Double Take, Bailey makes a simple case complicated, and death ensues. In every hard-boiled P. I. novel, the detective gets knocked out. This enables the writer to use prose so purple that that it takes in a life of its own. Chandler did it sparingly, Bellem abundantly, and Huggins horribly. This novel would have earned four stars had it not be for the metaphor mixing chapter involving Bailey in a drug and beating induced fog. It’s writing like this that gives pulp a bad name.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE DOUBLE TAKE may be the best Raymond Chandler type book not actually written by Chandler, and rather better than a couple that were. "A desk that was as bare as a mannequin's mind." Wonderful. So is the story, the characters, the pace, and everything else. Too bad Huggins wrote only this one novel and a few novellas. This one is a rare keeper from that genre.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast talking PI, Los Angeles setting, Chandleresque dialogue, and an intricate plot worthy of Dashiell Hammett, what more do you need? Fans of Huggins' 77 SUNSET STRIP will enjoy seeing the sees of that show planted here. Huggins did not want to be an author of novels but preferred TV as that evolved, however this novel shows he was more than capable.

[Mark Krajnak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid read



Fantastically hard boiled. Now I want to read more of Roy, especially since I found out he went on to such a distinguished career in TV.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fifties crime novel upon which the series 77 Sunset Strip was based.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Stuart Bailey is tougher than a ten-minute egg. We get violence, blackmail and a beautiful dame turning up very, very dead.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roy Huggins was one of the legendary figures of Hollywood, particularly the television industry. Originally a writer. Once his first novel -this one -was purchased by Columbia Pictures, he left novels behind, wrote movie scripts, and produced tv shows such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, the Fugitive, and the Rockford Files. He also known for naming names before HUAC.

As great a television mind as he was, we novel readers lost a great voice when he gave up novels for the golden lights. The Double Take is everything you could want from a hardboiled era detective novel. It is filled with sexy ladies, fancy mansions, ex-strippers, hoods, roulette wheels, and all kinds of checkered pasts. It gives us the Los Angeles of the 1940's with its wide boulevards and secret lives. Huggins here doesn't go overboard with the pulpy lines, but he throws in just enough to give this one flavor.

Yes, the plotting does get complex and there are quite a few characters involved, but it's a great story nonetheless and very typical of the pulp work of the 40's. Finishing this, I am left wanting more Stuart Bailey detective fiction.

[Brian Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does not disappoint as an introduction to the sardonic world of Stuart Bailey, the urbane forerunner of both Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford.