The Deadly Redheads — M. Ruth Myers

With World War II rationing making new tires unavailable, 1940s private investigator Maggie Sullivan needs a retread tire to keep her DeSoto rolling through city streets, not a confrontation with two killers. Unfortunately for  the scrappy Ohio detective, one leads to the other.                                It starts with a tall man in need of her help but quickly leads to a redhead claiming to be a clergyman's daughter, puzzling hanky panky with a window in a second story service garage, and skeptical cops. Maybe, just possibly, someone's after loot worth enough to risk spilling blood. Tracking  down thugs and facing them alone, in the dark, is all in a day's work for Maggie. The dry-humored female protagonist would rather be using her emery board, but as those on the wrong side of the law discover, she doesn't mind using her Smith & Wesson. This SHORT STORY features characters from the full length novels in the author's traditional mystery series set in 1940s America. It follows Maggie through cases in  the years 1938-1946 and the city of Dayton, Ohio, from the end of the Great Depression into and through World War II. Readers who enjoy a 20th century historical mystery won't go wrong here.