Books like This Dame for Hire by Sandra Scoppettone

New York, 1943. Faye Quick, a woman private investigator, takes on her first murder case as a secretary working for a detective agency in midtown Manhattan. The victim, Claudette West, was a student at NYU and the daughter of a Park Avenue family. Faye, who lives in bohemian Greenwich Village, stumbles upon the case and is tasked with solving it. The case is complicated by the conflicting motives of Claudette's father, convinced greed was the motive, and Claudette's boyfriend, Richard Cotten, who was killed because Claudette threw him off the gravy train. Faye, however, is not convinced of the motives and discovers other men who were involved in Claudette's life. The case takes Faye on a thrilling journey, as she delves into the seedy underworld of New York City, encountering a variety of characters, including a lecherous literature professor and an apparent con artist. When it comes to an irresistible detective and a riveting new series, you must remember this: Here's looking at Faye Quick.

First publish date: 2005