You Never Know With Women
Floyd Jackson was down on his work and luck, a private investigator with no license, no money and a lot of cop trouble. So when Fatso Gorman came to him with ten crisp hundred-dollar bills and a crazy story about a sleeping walking stripper who’d stolen an antique dagger, he was more than interested – even though he knew it had to be phony. The job – returning the dagger – looked simple enough, but Floyd reckoned there had to be more to it. What he hadn’t figured on, was being made the fall guy in a murder…
Extract:

I’ve been around and I’ve known a lot of women in my time.
They’ve given me a lot of fun and a lot fun and a lot of grief.
Now women are funny animals. You never know when you
are with them ; they don’t often know where they are with
themselves . it’s no good trying to find out what makes them
tick. It just can’t be done. They have more moods than an ar-
my of cats with lives, and all you can hope is to spot the mood
you’re after when it turns up and step in quick. Hesitate you’re
a dead duck, unless you’re one of those guys who like slow app-
roach that might get you somewhere in a week or in a month or
even a year. But that’s not the away I like it. I like it quick and
sudden ; like a shot on the back…