Strip for Murder is a reprint of Dolores Hitchens’ novel published in 1958 in Mercury Mystery Magazine. It’s the kind of noir novel that Stark House Press specializes in republishing. This edition contains the novel, two additional short stories, a short biography of Hitchens, and a complete bibliography.

Strip for Murder is a bleak novel featuring a tough insurance adjustor, Edward Warne, as a sleuth. His office is on the same floor as Mark Bellew’s. Bellew’s door may say he’s a theatrical representative, and the fake photos on his outside wall reinforce that claim. But, the inner office indicates that he really supplies strippers for private parties. When Bellew can’t take the pressure anymore, he turns to Warne for help.

More than twenty years earlier, Bellew supplied strippers for a party. One of the strippers lied about her age. She was only seventeen, and after she was beaten and raped, she committed suicide. Bellew felt guilty. He sold his business, gave the money to the girl’s parents, and quit the business. But, he eventually returned to the business. Now, someone is sending him poison pen letters, nasty letters that indicate they know about the girl’s death. They indicate that it’s going to happen again, and there’s nothing Bellew can do to prevent it.

But, Bellew panics and turns to Warne, asking him to look into the letters. How can anyone know about that suicide? The cynical Warne starts with Bellow’s secretary, a widow with a young child. Who better to know Bellew’s business but his secretary? And, who else might know that Bellew just booked several strippers for a party? Now, he’s afraid something might happen.

Fear, cynicism, trouble with women. The novel was published in 1958 in a style recognized by anyone who has read Raymond Chandler. It’s not a pretty story, and most of the characters are dislikable. It’s rare for the worldweary investigator to find any happiness in the world. Despite all the trouble, murder, and some physical violence, Hitchens manages to find a little bit of hope for Warne. But, anyone who reads Strip for Murder, and the two short stories, will put Hitchens’ writing firmly in the noir school, despite Warne’s chance for happiness.

Strip for Murder by Dolores Hitchens. Stark House Press, 2022. ISBN 9781951473648 (paperback), 166p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.