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It's a Sin to Kill
128 pages. Paperback. Avon Book Company No. 814. No edition indicated; undated except for 1953 copyright date.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
3 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Day Keene
163 books33 followersDay Keene, whose real name was Gunnar Hjerstedt, was one of the leading paperback mystery writers of the 1950s. Along with writing over 50 novels, he also wrote for radio, television, movies, and pulp magazines. Often his stories were set in South Florida or swamp towns in Louisiana, and included a man wrongly accused and on the run, determined to clear his name.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 27, 2021
"It's a Sin To Kill" is a terrific little pulp thriller that Keene starts with a big splash -a splash as in a nude corpse floating down the bay. And, it takes only a few pages before -in a classic pulp set-up - the lead character wakes up with no memory of what went on the night before and in a rich woman's yacht covered with blood, with clothing strewn everywhere, empty booze bottles rolling around, and no sign of the woman. Within minutes it seems the entire marina and even his wife believes him guilty of murder. All the evidence and all reason points to his guilt. Yes, it's a fairly typical set-up, but nevertheless it's still a pretty damn good read.
The beginning of the novel just ropes the reader in. A nude corpse with blonde hair is floating in the bay with the porpoises and other marine life. It's a haunting entry and the kicker is that no one has found the body yet or even knows she's missing. Let alone Captain Ames who has no clue about the corpse or what he'll awaits him when this murder is pinned on him. Instead, he awakens in a daze and doesn't even know where he is or how he got there. He has no clue. And that's how it sis with him for much of the book. He's a clueless Joe on the run for a crime he didn't commit until nearly the end when he finally puts it together.
Keene makes the Gulf Coast of Florida come alive in this and other pulp novels. All of it practically takes place on the docks, in the bay, and in the marshes. You can hear the tide throughput the book if you listen carefully.
The beginning of the novel just ropes the reader in. A nude corpse with blonde hair is floating in the bay with the porpoises and other marine life. It's a haunting entry and the kicker is that no one has found the body yet or even knows she's missing. Let alone Captain Ames who has no clue about the corpse or what he'll awaits him when this murder is pinned on him. Instead, he awakens in a daze and doesn't even know where he is or how he got there. He has no clue. And that's how it sis with him for much of the book. He's a clueless Joe on the run for a crime he didn't commit until nearly the end when he finally puts it together.
Keene makes the Gulf Coast of Florida come alive in this and other pulp novels. All of it practically takes place on the docks, in the bay, and in the marshes. You can hear the tide throughput the book if you listen carefully.
April 22, 2021
Strong beginning with a fishing charter captain waking up on the wrong boat and slowly remembering the incidents of the night before that do not add up. He's quickly a murder suspect and the book moves into the investigative phase. As with a couple of the other early Day Keene books I've read this investigative phase gets a bit redundant with the same facts being repeated numerous times. Some good twists, including a nice surprise at the end, but not enough action to make this one really sing.
March 29, 2015
Well, I kind of got hooked with this beginning:
The nude body lay like a swimmer in the water, face down, one arm extended. A south moon under, breaking through a rift in the clouds, found fire on one finger of the white, outstretched hand. The small fire glittered and twinkled and flared. Even the full force of the outgoing tide surging through the narrow pass, connecting the bay with the Gulf of Mexico, failed to extinguish it. It seemed to be embedded in the dead woman's hand, a last spark of life in the otherwise lifeless clay.
Unfortunately, It's Sin to Kill is a novel of interesting, well written passages, surrounded by pedestrian plotting. I ran across this book at a used book store, and recognized the author, Day Keene, as the author of the "Hard Case" title Home Is the Sailor, which is, to my mind, one of the best titles in that series. But It's a Sin to Kill (lamely retitled from its earlier, and more appropriate, Dead Man's Tide) lacks Home is the Sailor's hallucinogenic zaniness, though there are similarities. Like Sailor, the novel opens with a disoriented sea dog, Charlie Ames, waking up on an unfamiliar ship. He's naked, and liquor bottles are rolling around on a blood soaked floor, littered with underwear and cigarettes. The last thing he remembers is drinking coffee with a rich woman seeking to employ him for a boat run up to Baltimore.
The walls, and the Law, start closing in quickly on Charlie, and even his young wife, Mary Lou, a singer at a club, doubts his story. (Charlie himself used to blow a cool horn, before catching a Japanese rifle butt in the lip on Iwo.) Actually, it's the details of the Florida beach music scene, and the various beach characters, dialogue, and authentic geographic descriptions, that make this novel worthwhile. The story is OK, and it functions best when Charlie is on the run, because then Keene can give you some fine descriptive passages, spiked with good dialogue. It's great time capsule stuff, and if you're a fan of John D. McDonald, you might be drawn to this. It's when the story slows down, and everybody gathers to accuse each other, that I felt like I was in an English parlor getting Agatha Christie vibes (there's even a butler). As I said above, I picked this one up at a used book store. You can also (surprisingly) get it on Kindle. Not bad, but I think it's more an item of interest for students of the genre, and fans of Keene.
The nude body lay like a swimmer in the water, face down, one arm extended. A south moon under, breaking through a rift in the clouds, found fire on one finger of the white, outstretched hand. The small fire glittered and twinkled and flared. Even the full force of the outgoing tide surging through the narrow pass, connecting the bay with the Gulf of Mexico, failed to extinguish it. It seemed to be embedded in the dead woman's hand, a last spark of life in the otherwise lifeless clay.
Unfortunately, It's Sin to Kill is a novel of interesting, well written passages, surrounded by pedestrian plotting. I ran across this book at a used book store, and recognized the author, Day Keene, as the author of the "Hard Case" title Home Is the Sailor, which is, to my mind, one of the best titles in that series. But It's a Sin to Kill (lamely retitled from its earlier, and more appropriate, Dead Man's Tide) lacks Home is the Sailor's hallucinogenic zaniness, though there are similarities. Like Sailor, the novel opens with a disoriented sea dog, Charlie Ames, waking up on an unfamiliar ship. He's naked, and liquor bottles are rolling around on a blood soaked floor, littered with underwear and cigarettes. The last thing he remembers is drinking coffee with a rich woman seeking to employ him for a boat run up to Baltimore.
The walls, and the Law, start closing in quickly on Charlie, and even his young wife, Mary Lou, a singer at a club, doubts his story. (Charlie himself used to blow a cool horn, before catching a Japanese rifle butt in the lip on Iwo.) Actually, it's the details of the Florida beach music scene, and the various beach characters, dialogue, and authentic geographic descriptions, that make this novel worthwhile. The story is OK, and it functions best when Charlie is on the run, because then Keene can give you some fine descriptive passages, spiked with good dialogue. It's great time capsule stuff, and if you're a fan of John D. McDonald, you might be drawn to this. It's when the story slows down, and everybody gathers to accuse each other, that I felt like I was in an English parlor getting Agatha Christie vibes (there's even a butler). As I said above, I picked this one up at a used book store. You can also (surprisingly) get it on Kindle. Not bad, but I think it's more an item of interest for students of the genre, and fans of Keene.
September 6, 2025
Fucking Boat Kooks
I read this already. It's also called Dead Man's Tide.
I want to torture and kill every single Boat Kook.
I want to fill a Boat with all the Boat Kooks, Foodies, and Sports Fans and sink it with a torpedo. What the hell, put all the Artists on it too.
I think I'm gonna read a book about Pearl Harbor or Midway - just for the pleasure of reading about all those boats sinking.
I read this already. It's also called Dead Man's Tide.
I want to torture and kill every single Boat Kook.
I want to fill a Boat with all the Boat Kooks, Foodies, and Sports Fans and sink it with a torpedo. What the hell, put all the Artists on it too.
I think I'm gonna read a book about Pearl Harbor or Midway - just for the pleasure of reading about all those boats sinking.
November 3, 2024
About as great of a vintage little thriller as you can find.
Charles Ames wakes up naked on a boat that isn't his, covered in both lipstick and blood. There's a fat wad of cash in his pants pocket and a dead nude woman floating in the bay. How's that for an opening? From there on, the poor guy (and his also framed wife!) struggles for about 190 pages to stay ahead of the cops and the real killers.
There's a ton to love about this one. Day Keene (writing as Wm Richards) laces his coastal Floridian town with salty sea dogs and plenty of boating details. He takes his time to do some nice descriptions, including an almost poetic passage about the murder victim's body washing out the sea and back. He gets inside the Ames couple's heads and gives them some pretty realistic reactions and emotions considering the situations he's places them in. Their love for each other felt pretty genuine. I was glad, too, that Mary Lou got some chapters focused on her. It was nice to have the wife not just be wallpaper but an active protagonist.
Keene did decide to write some of the characters with accents, which doesn't always read easily, but that's a minor gripe considering the rest of the book's heart-pounding qualities. Recommended.
Charles Ames wakes up naked on a boat that isn't his, covered in both lipstick and blood. There's a fat wad of cash in his pants pocket and a dead nude woman floating in the bay. How's that for an opening? From there on, the poor guy (and his also framed wife!) struggles for about 190 pages to stay ahead of the cops and the real killers.
There's a ton to love about this one. Day Keene (writing as Wm Richards) laces his coastal Floridian town with salty sea dogs and plenty of boating details. He takes his time to do some nice descriptions, including an almost poetic passage about the murder victim's body washing out the sea and back. He gets inside the Ames couple's heads and gives them some pretty realistic reactions and emotions considering the situations he's places them in. Their love for each other felt pretty genuine. I was glad, too, that Mary Lou got some chapters focused on her. It was nice to have the wife not just be wallpaper but an active protagonist.
Keene did decide to write some of the characters with accents, which doesn't always read easily, but that's a minor gripe considering the rest of the book's heart-pounding qualities. Recommended.
July 22, 2023
A very good tale of somewhere along the central gulf coast of Florida.
The story draws the reader in immediately and the mystery is intriguing.
A few pages later, a similar action that opened the book is repeated in a different way.
After that, the action takes off and it's not nearing the end that a resolution seems to be occurring.
I believe Keene was dressing Ames, the main character, as a dopey guy who is caught in something he can't figure out. Suddenly he does. Why was law enforcement not looking into what Ames did? Keene used that loop-hole to move the plot.
The story is still fun to read.
The Florida part: Keene is not specific as to the location in Florida. He titles it Palmetto City and then confuses municipalities and county government. I've read quite a number of writers doing this of Florida in books of the '50s and '60s.
The location swings to Tampa and there's mention of Boca Granda Pass, that waaaay south of Tampa. The setting is somewhere in between.
Keene's writing of the fishing village is excellent. Barnacles and all.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
The story draws the reader in immediately and the mystery is intriguing.
A few pages later, a similar action that opened the book is repeated in a different way.
After that, the action takes off and it's not nearing the end that a resolution seems to be occurring.
I believe Keene was dressing Ames, the main character, as a dopey guy who is caught in something he can't figure out. Suddenly he does. Why was law enforcement not looking into what Ames did? Keene used that loop-hole to move the plot.
The story is still fun to read.
The Florida part: Keene is not specific as to the location in Florida. He titles it Palmetto City and then confuses municipalities and county government. I've read quite a number of writers doing this of Florida in books of the '50s and '60s.
The location swings to Tampa and there's mention of Boca Granda Pass, that waaaay south of Tampa. The setting is somewhere in between.
Keene's writing of the fishing village is excellent. Barnacles and all.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
June 14, 2019
Gormless male character is set up for who knows what purpose? CHECK
Said gormless character is good at FIGHTING? CHECK
Ends up in the clink but busts out by using his said fighting skills and goes on the run determined to clear his name? CHECK
Several characters who may or may not be the actual killer but in the end it's somebody else? CHECK
----
I'm sensing a formula here. This is by-the-numbers Keene. If you've read one then you've probably read them all. That's not to say that this sucks; it's one of the better ones of his I've read since I went on a Day Keene binge. This one is more satisfying overall though the ending was a bit flat and somewhat predictable. Like all of Day Keene's work, the writing is sharp and slick, and a real cut above.
Said gormless character is good at FIGHTING? CHECK
Ends up in the clink but busts out by using his said fighting skills and goes on the run determined to clear his name? CHECK
Several characters who may or may not be the actual killer but in the end it's somebody else? CHECK
----
I'm sensing a formula here. This is by-the-numbers Keene. If you've read one then you've probably read them all. That's not to say that this sucks; it's one of the better ones of his I've read since I went on a Day Keene binge. This one is more satisfying overall though the ending was a bit flat and somewhat predictable. Like all of Day Keene's work, the writing is sharp and slick, and a real cut above.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews