Dance With the Dead

Written by Richard S. Prather

Narrated by Heath Kizzier

There were twelve of them. Bottoms, that is. Au naturel. The most eye-wrecking collection of derrieres ever to pop out of a printed page. The "WOW' pin-up girls...one for each month of the year. No faces, no names, not even swaddling clothes...just September, October, December, like that. Man, you should have seen January. Every inch a torrid zone. And wouldn't you know I'd get to work through the whole calendar? Well, they don't call me Shell Scott for nothing. Nossirree. I get paid for this kind of work. One of these luscious young pin-ups had the clue to a headline murder right on her little old back page. Four freckles. You think looking for a needle in a haystack is something?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books in Motion
• Release date: Nov 15, 2004
• ISBN: 9781581169928

Richard S. Prather

Richard S. Prather (1921–2007) was the author of the world-famous Shell Scott detective series, which has over forty million copies in print in the United States and many millions more in foreign-language editions abroad. There are forty-one volumes in the series, including four collections of short stories and novelettes. In 1986, Prather was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. He and his wife, Tina, lived in Sedona, Arizona.

Reviews for Dance With the Dead

[pete · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Easy to enjoy. True the narrator is a little distracting but you can get used to it after a while and upping the speed helps.

[andyray_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

does anyone else have a favorite author who, when you read too much of his work, you say about him this: "why do I read this guy?" or "what crap1" or "I can't make that leap of the imagination!" or something to that effect. Prather bothers me because he is so sappy/camp/nerdy he is GOOD.He writes his books in thirds, to-wit: one-third is aboiut women's bodies, usually fannies and hips, but sometimes breasts; one-third violent conflicts with ugly men andl, rarely, a beautiful evil woman, and one-third educational material and humour. I like to think it's the last one-third that keeps me coming back, but I like the conflicts, albeit that's where the loss of the leap of imagination occurs. In this one, he has a gun placed right against his backbone and numerous people in the room with guns who also want him dead, yet he gets out of it! GIVE ME A BREAK! I scream. In this one, there are 12 WOW girls. WOW is a monthly girlie mag that features a three page pullout of a different woman each month. She is always poised with her derrierre facing the camera and her face hidden. (Note this was published in early 1960, less than three years after the first Playboy issue with Marilyn Monroe was on the newsstands. Also the WOW publisher became filthy rich from the publication, as did Hugh Heffner).