Dead Heat

Shell Scott #25

by Richard S. Prather

This time around Shell Scott gives up chasing downtown lowlifes for the uptown high-end kind. A mysterious and industrious industrialist trusts Scott with finding a stock swapper that seems to know too much. And too much is just the beginning. From big-time boardrooms to bawdy motel rooms our man Scott isn't about to sell these crooks short. Tempers flare and plots boil over but in this contest between Shell Scott and some bad guy big wigs, busty femme fatales and flying bullets, between life and death, the end could come right down to a Dead Heat.

Genres: Mystery

ebook

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Richard Scott Prather was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.

Prather was born in Santa Ana, California. He served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. In 1945 year he married Tina Hager and began working as a civilian chief clerk of surplus property at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California. He left that job to become a full-time writer in 1949. The first Shell Scott mystery, 'Case of the Vanishing Beauty' was published in 1950. It would be the start of a long series that numbered more than three dozen titles featuring the Shell Scott character.

Prather had a disagreement with his publisher in the 1970s and sued them in 1975. He gave up writing for several years and grew avocados. However in 1986 he returned with 'The Amber Effect'. Prather's final book, 'Shellshock', was published in hardcover in 1987 by Tor Books.

At the time of his death in 2007, he had completed his final Shell Scott Mystery novel, 'The Death Gods'. It was published October 2011 by Pendleton Artists.

Prather served twice on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. Additionally Prather received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1986.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dead Heat (1963) is a title that refers to horse racing, more specifically horse racing at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. Scott is asked by an investor and major shareholder in an electronics company to look into a situation where a corporate executive has been convicted of embezzlement. But the prior detective on the case was shot dead in front of thousands just as the seventh race was starting with the crowd noise drowning out the gunshot. This being a Shell Scott novel, there’s of course a hoodlum muscling in on the company shares and a well-endowed bubble-brained secretary who means well but gets lost in the words.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"She had eyes that sizzled and lips like flaming puckers, and a body flaunting the vital statistics you'd expect on a gal with such facial sizzle and smack, but she was not so bright she'd give a dummy an inferiority complex. That was the kick in the pants--my pants, of course, since I was with her."

Welcome to the kind of books I read as a kid. It's like I've never grown up.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

Měl jsem připravené nějaké zásadnější knihy, ale radši jsem sáhl po další knize se Shellem Scottem, soukromým detektivem, jehož kryptonitem jsou ženy všeho druhu. A kniha hned začíná popisem jedné šťabajzny, z jejíchž křivek utrpíte desetinásobnou zlomeninu pohledu. Má to jen jeden háček… ta dívka není zrovna z těch nejbystřejších. Ale to je věc, kterou je Shell Scott ochotný překousnout. Není povrchní a má pochopení pro slabosti vnadných žen.

Ovšem kromě buchet má i jiné starosti. Má pro jednoho miliardáře zjistit, jak je to s krádežemi v jeho firmě. A jestli je člověk, který za ně sedí ve vězení, opravdu vinný. Což vypadá jako brnkačka, ale malý problém je, že Shell Scott není první detektiv, který dostal tuhle zakázku… a větší problémem pak to, že ten předchozí detektiv byl nalezený mrtvý. A že Scottovi hrozí to samé. Někdo ho sleduje, někdo mu vyhrožuje a někdo po něm střílí.

Hele, není to komplikovaná kniha, ale jako ostatní knížky Richarda S. Prathera, je psaná s odpichem, s humorem a hravostí. A co víc, jsou tu i dobře napsané akční scény, které fungují i po šedesáti letech… hlavně ve finále, kdy nastává brutální závod s časem.

Asi si nakonec vážně toho Prathera zkompletuju.

[Gordie LaChance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun Shell Scott yard by Richard S. Prather. The title states 'Over 27 million Shell Scott books sold!' so these were definitely popular in their day.

This one concerns a businessman/investor who hires Scott to investigate goings on at a company he is heavily invested in. One of the partners is in jail for embezzlement and the stock has crashed, much to the investor's dismay. The prior investigator on the case was murdered at a racetrack, making this a dangerous case from the start.

Scott finds that a gangster has been buying up a lot of the stock. The daughter of the jailed partner (who is the science whiz behind the company) has disappeared.

Shell tangles with gangsters and meets a beautiful but air headed secretary along the way.

Told with Prather's usual tough but humorous prose, this is a typical entry in both the Shell Scott series and in the hard-boiled detective genre. While there is nothing new or profound here, it is a fun story, well told.

[Sharanya Mukherji · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read first five chapters, decided not to torcher myself further. We really could've enjoyed the story more if the narrator didn't try so hard to make himself look like a 1940s sassy b#tch. If you like obnoxious people who for the love of God doesn't take the story further then go ahead...

[Steven Stowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced and entertaining.