Phony Shakedown

Phony Shakedown is a collection of four stories from the casebook of Dan Turner. Turner was a hard-boiled gumshoe who worked the mean streets and back lots of the film studios of Hollywood, encountering murderers, blackmailers, greedy producers, seductive starlets, desperate has-beens and immoral grifters. Turner was always ready with his “roscoe” to save some “dame” or “frail” from becoming “dead as a smoked herring” or “as dead as vaudeville.” Here are four stories from the casebook of Dan Turner by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968).

Phony Shakedown (1943) – At first, Dan thought the girl had shot at him and it didn’t make him any the less mad because she had missed. But before he could make her talk, another bullet closed her mouth. That sort of interference in Dan’s business was the last straw! Somebody was going to pay—and plenty.

Beyond Justice (1935) – Dan didn’t like this beauty contest, even though he was a judge. He liked it even less when the winning beauty was knifed. Was the dead girl’s murder an act of vengeance—or a legacy of love?

Monster’s Malice (1943) – It was a screwy assignment. The bogey-man thought he was going crazy! “I want you to save me from myself, Mr. Turner,” he said. “I’m turning into a werewolf. And I want you to keep me from hurting my wife . . .”

Half-Size Homicide (1943) – Dan wasn’t even working for the movie star when she slapped his face and fired him in the most public way possible! To make matters worse, the whole thing was right under the nose of the gabbiest gossip columnist in Hollywood.

Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968), the creator of legendary Hollywood private detective Dan Turner, was the definition of prolific, producing some 3000 short stories over a thirty year career. While his friends knew him as Leslie, his publishers were afraid he would be perceived as being female, and so he used his first name Robert to publish under. Not that it was likely that a woman would have written the Dan Turner stories. . .

Phony Shakedown – Four Stories of Dan Turner Hollywood Detective has 11 illustrations.