Hardboiled Stories

I was tailing the unfaithful husband of a neurotic client down a dark alley when someone slipped behind me and put a gun to my neck. I heard Bugsy’s voice and knew I had a problem.“Frank Danger, P.I.!” he said with a delighted baritone that rumbled like a dump truck.“Bugsy.”He laid a heavy mitt on my back and sent me staggering. Bugsy was a great guy. I thought the world of him.“Hands up!” he said, “Turn around slow.”I ca...

The woman sat at the bar and stared into her drink and Harvey stood behind her. He laid a hand on her back and leaned in so his mouth was in her ear. “Did you get it?”She nodded at her drink.Harvey sat down. “Beautiful.”The bartender walked over. “What can I get you?”“Whiskey,” Harvey said. “Neat.”“How about you, ma’am? Ready for a refill?”The woman covered her glass with her palm. The bartender left and came back with a...

There were still twenty days to go till Christmas, but everybody was celebrating. After twelve years, ten months and nineteen days, prohibition was finally over. It was good news for the drunks, but hard luck for the people who ran the speaks, the people who had kept the drunkards supplied with hooch during that long dark age. Fortunes had been made in illegal alcohol. Everything from brown plaid to coffin varnish found a...