About the author: Francis Bonnamy (1906-1983) was a pseudonym of Audrey Boyers Walz. Peter Utley Shane was her series detective and appeared in at least eight novels, beginning with this one. Here is her obituary.
Major characters:
- Francis Bonnamy, the author, narrator, and professor
- Peter Shane, head of the University of Chicago Criminology Dept.
- Karl Von Frantzius, a German archeologist
- --- Salamo, gang boss
- Rosa "Hippolyte" Bora, Salamo's girlfriend
- Archangelo di Gioia, another gang boss
- Flavio, his bodyguard
- Sfelazza, one of his lackeys
- Mike Macy, another gang boss
Locale: Chicago
Synopsis: Professor Peter Shane is the expert on Chicago's criminal gangs, having written a large dissertation about them. Prohibition gang boss --- Salamo is found dead on the dance floor of the Cotillion Club, his girlfriend Hippolyte Bora posing nearby in a slinky dress.
The police call in Shane and fellow professor Francis Bonnamy (in a multiple role as author, narrator, and professor) to investigate, due to their exhaustive research and knowledge of gang activities. The Medical Examiner is called, and despite there being a stiletto found on the body, finds the wound was made by something much longer - a rapier.
Review: This immediately struck me as being structured like the S. S. Van Dine novels. Like those, the author has inserted himself/herself into the text as the narrator, so Francis Bonnamy is one of the characters - a professor at the University of Chicago.
We are treated to the world of 1920's prohibition gangsters, always well-dressed and with perfect manners (think of Guys and Dolls); although with obviously limited education. It is amusing how the two professors use "big" words which the gangsters don't understand, and have to resort to dumbing down their vocabulary.
