B-Girl Decoy

by Eve Linkletter

As Mercedes Benson, she was the prettiest, sharpest, smartest undercover agent ever to be assigned to the Los Angeles Narcotics detail - more than qualifying her for the job Leon Adams had in mind. As Eva Jones, she was slinkiest, flooziest, sexiest B-girl ever to work any of the joints on skid row. The trap was set. Eva was "in" at The Cellar. By playing her part to the hilt, she could provide the means for smashing the dope syndicate . . . .

152 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of this novel is the first third where the whole "B-Girl" ploy is described and shown in great detail as Mercedes goes undercover as Eva. Written in 1961, so what you have is a contemporaneous depiction of the scam. The middle third is decent as a lot of complications are introduced and the energy picks up as the point of view shifts away from B-girl/undercover cop Eva whom we began with. The final third is weak despite more plot complications because none of the police part is realistic, and in fact, is quite moronic. Where this novel really falls apart, however, is that when we are in Eva's point of view she never seems to think the way an undercover cop would. So the novel is a fascinating period piece with a great historical depiction of what the B-Girl scam was, but as a novel it fails because the main character is not presented in a way that is believable. The minor characters, on the other hand, seem quite believable. So a rare example where it is the main character who is the prop rather than the supporting characters.