None but the Lethal Heart (published in 1959, by Horwitz) is a slapstick pulp which is as entertaining as it is cringe-worthy. The protagonist, Mavis Seidlitz is all to willing to use her god-given assets to confuse and muddle the opposite sex while her partner at the PI firm, Johnny Rio is the epitome of the male chauvinist - his dialogue offensive and loaded with derogatory remarks towards an all-too happy go lucky Mavis.
The plot is pretty straight forward; a 'prowler' is murdered by an acquaintance of Mavis who is in L.A. to guard a foreign dignitary who is visiting the USA to borrow money for his fledgling president. It later turns out that the prowler was actually the money-man, and his death a major bump in the road in the deal.
It's up to Mavis, to 1. help the murderer hide the corpse, and then 2. find out why the money-man was moonlighting as a prowler. There's a lot of finger pointing and smoke and mirrors as other characters come into the fold but in the end, the finale was ultimately disappointing.
My rating: 2.5/5 stars. I do love a pulp, and taken on face value as a pure satire, None but the Lethal Heart is pretty fun. However this one is really for Carter Brown and Mavis Seidlitz fans.
Other pulps which have a similar feel include:
This Girl For Hire by G. G. Fickling
Pick up a Pulp [6]: Seudlitz and the Super Spy by Carter Brown
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