Larry Kent 749: Crimson Lady

A Larry Kent, P.I. Thriller

By: Don Haring

Narrated by: Chaz Allen

The most difficult killer to catch is the one who doesn’t realize he’s a killer! That was Larry Kent’s dilemma when he signed on to protect beautiful actress Valerie Nash. Whoever he was, the mystery murderer was two distinct personalities in one…and the dark side of him was slowly but surely gaining dominance.

As bodies started piling up, Larry uncovered one man’s dirty secret and another’s violent past. But even when he worked out who the killer was, there was still one more problem to overcome…to make the man realize just how many lives he’d taken in the name of his twisted love for Valerie....

About Larry Kent

Larry Kent started his life as the hero of a half-hour radio show on Australia’s Macquarie Network, and was inspired chiefly by the success of the hardboiled mysteries of Carter Brown. As the popularity of the radio show grew, the Cleveland Publishing Pty. Ltd decided to publish a series of Larry Kent novels. Two authors, Don Haring (an American who lived in Australia) and Des R Dunn (a Queenslander) are primarily associated with the series. Between 1954 and 1983, Larry appeared in well over 400 adventures.

Kent is a typical hardboiled private eye. He smokes Camels, drinks whisky and within the first dozen pages or so, has usually met a dame and is fighting for his life. His mean streets are pure New York (although the radio series was set in Australia) and include Harlem nightclubs and Jersey roadhouses.

Generally the body counts are high: about six deaths per novel.

But there’s another side to Larry Kent. He’s a Vietnam war veteran, he used to work for the CIA and still does, usually reluctantly, on occasion. And once, when an attempt was made on his life, the Agency paid for him to have plastic surgery that altered his appearance...something he never quite managed to get used to.

Larry Kent is fast and fun, and Piccadilly Publishing is proud to be bringing his cases to a whole new generation of fans, complete with their original "good girl" artwork.

©2019 David Whitehead (P)2020 David Whitehead