The Cat with a Headache

<p><strong>A fast-talking detective. A city full of grifters gunmen and double-crosses. Vintage pulp crime fiction at its finest.</strong></p><p>Smart sardonic and sharper than ever Cellini Smith is back in <em>The Cat with a Headache: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith Volume 3</em>. In this third collection of hardboiled detective stories from the legendary <em>Black Mask</em> magazine Robert Reeves' wisecracking sleuth tackles a new batch of gritty mysteries packed with murder mayhem and misdirection.</p><p>From seedy alleys to shadowy nightclubs and even a murder at 30000 feet these four classic noir mysteries showcase the offbeat cases and razor-edged dialogue that made Reeves a standout among the golden age pulp writers.</p><p>Set against the backdrop of 1940s America these vintage crime stories combine the punchy pace of pulp fiction with the cerebral edge of a detective who reads people as easily as he reads case files. With his mix of book smarts and streetwise instincts Cellini Smith offers a refreshing twist on the traditional private eye.</p><p>Perfect for fans of Raymond Chandler Dashiell Hammett and other masters of classic detective fiction this volume is essential reading for anyone who loves hardboiled heroes tough-talking dames and the dark alleys of pulp-era Los Angeles and New York.</p><p>Rediscover a forgotten icon of crime fiction-<em>Cellini Smith</em> is back on the case.</p><blockquote>[Reeves] can hold his own with the best giving you as sharp and action-packed a story-line as any of them brightened by vivid dialog and enlivened by the presence of Cellini Smith who is unique among hard-boiled private eyes in being admittedly an intellectual-and tough enough to get away with it.</blockquote><blockquote>- Anthony Boucher</blockquote>