BE BOP, ZOOT SUITS, CROONERS. IT'S MY CRIME NOIR

WHEN THE TEMPERATURE RISES

Well, before I take you for a spin in Detective Humphrey McAllister's 1941 black Ford Sedan right up to the crime scene of Sam Santino's murder, I want to explain some things to you about Humphrey.

Humphrey was constantly skirt chasing; blonde dames were like magnets and he had absolutely no self control. His other device was consuming too much of the funny water. Yeah, yeah he shook those nasty habits like dance hall girls doing the hoochie coochie, but it's hard to prove you've got your act together. Pot bellied Captain Milroy has lost all faith in his Detective and reluctantly turns over the Santino case to Humph. Humph has 48 hours to solve it or he's gonna be demoted from homicide to following bed jumpers at sleazy motels.

Let's fast forward just a bit shall we. Santino got himself whacked pretty good. He's shot up full of bullet holes so that he looks like a damn piece of swiss cheese. He's alive when Humphrey arrives, barely alive; Humphrey dials the emergency wagon for poor Sam, but Sam expires before the wagon arrives. Before his unfortunate demise though he tries to convey some kind of message to Humphrey, but he has too much lead in him to complete a sentence. There might be a clue though but Humphrey can't decipher it.

So, Humphrey sweeps the apartment for tangible clues and one clue leads to another and takes Humphrey on a journey to some pretty interesting people on his list; some are voluptuous blonde dames that attract the Detective like magnets, others are boxers who could lay Humphrey out with one right hook. But the most interesting suspect comes right out of left field like some fly ball: Roberta, Humphrey's ex wife.

Now what you have to understand about Humphrey is he's still carrying a torch for Roberta, so hauling her in is the last thing he wants to do. In fact, Humphrey's thinking he'll see ice skating in hell before he slaps handcuffs on her.

So anyway, he pulls up to Roberta's quaint rancher with the green shutters and wants to see if he can shake that feeling about her guilt, but when Ro's cat Tuna gets out of the house and dashes into the bushes, Humphrey does the gentlemanly thing and scoots down through the bushes to save Tuna. That's when Humphrey gets the shock of his life!

Now I can't tell you bupkis about what happens for obvious reasons. Whether or not he slaps a steel bracelet on his ex and hauls her off or not or let's her walk into the sunset....you'll have to read the novel WHEN THE TEMPERATURE RISES.  BUY NOW

If you do I sure hope you enjoy it!

Ciao!

Deborah Palumbo