Queer Street: A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery

Queer Street is the 3rd book in the series by Curt Colbert and, like the earlier books Rat City and Sayonaraville, it is set in Seattle in the 1950s and is written in the tough hardboiled style that was common to the pulp novels around the time in which it is set. Jake Rossiter and his partner, the lovely Miss Jenkins are back fighting crime, talking tough and living large. Queer Street starts off as a murder case, but a risque complication is added to the case, with the setting among the wild world of homosexuals and female impersonators, a side of life that was far from accepted in the 1950s. The case progresses to the exposure of blackmail, protection rackets and some goings on in the more seamy parts of Seattle, parts that Jake would have preferred not to have learned about. Great effort has been made by Curt Colbert to recreate the feel of a 1950's pulp detective story with the dialogue so authentic it could be mistaken as coming out of the mouth of Mike Hammer. Jake Rossiter's narrative is droll with a heavy tough-guy attitude indicating that he's proud of the fact that he can take a punch and down his fair share of Cutty Sark. Sure, at times it comes across as cliched, but as a lover of the old-style pulps I found that this is one of the endearing aspects of the story. Although this is most certainly a hardboiled private investigator story as told by a hardened gumshoe, there is a consistent humorous tone to the book as Jake seems to find himself in numerous compromising situations. Queer Street and indeed the entire series, is ideal for people who love reading no-nonsense detective novels, the pulpier the better.

Love Rossiter and Miss Jenkins! This is the most convoluted and interesting of the series yet!! And the twist at the end will knock your socks off. Rossiter will never be the same!!!