Endings & Beginnings - The Black Stiletto #5

The story was topnotch, but I was disappointed in my purchase. I’ve bought every issue in hardback, and ordered this one in hardback also, paying almost full price. But what I received was an advance reading copy paperback, clearly listed as not for sale on the cover. It is an uncorrected proof, containing paragraph problems, as well as dialogue running together. I don’t blame the author or publisher, but it is clearly a review copy sent to someone who resold it for the price of the hardback edition. It’s sad that the series comes to an end with this story, and even sadder that my collection ends with a less than perfect copy of the book.

Endings & Beginnings (The Black Stiletto #5)

By Raymond Benson

Oceanview Publishing

ISBN #978-1608091034

326 Pages

Price $20.31

Rating 5-Stars

“A Great Series!”

It’s 1962, and Judy Cooper is pregnant with Leo’s baby.  Leo’s sister, Christina is still wearing the fake Stiletto outfit and robbing the mob boss, keeping heat on The Black Stiletto from both the police and mob. Now in hiding at Barry Gorman’s mountain retreat until the baby is born, she can only harass Leo and his sister by telephone. Once the baby is born, however, she puts her plan in operation to prove that Christina is the fake Stiletto, and with her brother Leo is conspiring to rip off the big boss. The plan comes off, but not before a police shoot-out with gangsters, and once again Judy is on the run, but this time with her baby. They head for Odessa, Texas, where she hopes to fence the diamond stolen by Leo and his sister, to help her support the baby. But she brings more death to her hometown, and eventually has to run again.

This is the final entry in Judy’s career as The Black Stiletto. It also brings Martin, Maggie, and Gina to the realization that Judy’s Alzheimer’s is in the fatal stages, and her life is coming to an end. But Gina now has the Stiletto’s outfit, and she has been recruited into a secret government organization, leaving the door open to new adventures of a modern day Black Stiletto – if the author so desires. Even though Judy Cooper’s career as The Black Stiletto only lasted five years, from 1958 to 1962, I still hated to see her stories end. And it was even worse to see her dying with Alzheimer’s after such a brilliant life. The series was unique in the way the author presented her story through diaries being read by her adult son, and the reader gets a view of past and present as the stories unfold. Judy Cooper was charming, and The Black Stiletto was fascinating. I’m glad I had the chance to read her adventures. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of GUNS OF THE BLACK GHOST

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories