Publishing History
- New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941
- London: Michael Joseph, 1947
- New York: Popular Library, 1948 (PL 168)
- Eugene, Or.: Bruin Books, 2010 (Bruin Crimeworks); ISBN: 978-0982633922 [Buy this book]
- New York: Diversion Books, 2015 [e-book]; ISBN: 978-1626816022 [Buy this book]
Series Character
- James “Whit” Whitney
Setting
- San Francisco, California
Summary
San Francisco tax accountant James “Whit” Whitney is summoned home from a vacation in Santa Cruz to help his partner, George MacLeod, recover a hefty tax refund for a beautiful blonde client named Marian Wolff. When he returns to his office, Whit finds MacLeod dead in the firm’s vault, “with a small hole in the bridge of his nose.” In order to complete the tax return and uncover the murderer, Whit becomes a reluctant detective and nearly gets himself killed in the process. To prevent Whit’s murder, if possible, the SFPD assigns him a bodyguard named Swede Larson. Whit and Swede tangle with ex-bootleggers and Telegraph Hill gangsters in their efforts to unravel the mystery, which climaxes with a shootout in the Mission District and a dramatic car chase across the Bay Bridge. Along the way, Whit resists the advances of Marian Wolff and begins a romance with Kitty MacLeod, George’s widow.
Before becoming a novelist, David Dodge worked as a Certified Public Accountant and, since you write about what you know, his first fictional hero was also a tax man. A notable aspect of the Whitney novels is the volume of information about taxes and finances that Dodge effortlessly weaves into his plots.
A David Dodge Companion 