BEAGLE SCENTED MURDER introduces two of the most upright and fearless heels ever to run a detective agency, Otis Beagle and Joe Peel. These two new Gruber characters are not above “making” a little business, especially when times are slow, but they are not in the market for murder. Murder lands in their laps, however, and for a time they are forced to do a little honest work. In the course of avoiding San Quentin they uncover same interesting material about one of their clients and learn a lot about a racket in dime novels. They wind up with a bang, but, much to the grief of the local police, on their feet. Frank Gruber has written a fast, tough, and funny mystery story in the Fletcher and Cragg tradition. We expect to hear more of Messrs. Beagle and Peel

The Los Angeles police department has often suspected that private detective Otis Beagle is not above making “business” to bring in a profitable client. And they are quite right. But not even Otis and his hired hand, Joe Peel, would have meddled in the affairs of the Iowa Lee Lonely Hearts Club had they realized it would mean murder, blackmail, and the old-fashioned badger game. However, there are compensations in the shape (or shapes) of three lovely ladies — Iowa Lee herself; the perfect secretary, Linda Meadows; and her roommate, Susan, whom everyone is trying to find. Joe pays a call on one of the ladies in posh Hillcrest Towers — and almost at once the first corpse turns up. There’s plenty of action and lots of humor in this fast-moving and ingenious thriller