The Barefoot Stiff, a Maggie Sullivan short story
M. Ruth Myers
Tuesday House
16 pages $.99 Kindle
Looks like the scrappy female PI is in trouble again. A man “who looked large enough for a prize fighter through the shoulders” busts into her office demanding something. She pleads ignorance. “Keep lying,” the hulking stranger says, “and I’ll make you sorry, toots.”
Toots, is depression-era gumshoe Maggie Sullivan, creation of Shamus Award-winning author M. Ruth Myers. Sullivan makes her living exploring dark alleys, getting beat up and cracking wise as well as any male detective of the literary era.
Homicide lieutenant Freeze is questioning Sullivan about the case she’s working on:
Two assistants who trailed Freeze everywhere leaned against the wall. One was taking notes while his pal memorized my legs.