“And listen you, I’m older than I look.”

“Then she shut the door and I thought about sitting down on the grass and rolling around howling, and I thought about jumping up and running back and crashing through the door, but what I did was go out to the Cad and lean my head against the cool steering wheel for a couple seconds, then shiver spasmodically and put the buggy in gear thinking that Jules Osborne should have told me more about Diane, and offered me at least twenty thousand dollars.” — Hot-Rock Rumble

This is a terrific trio of Shell Scott stories from Richard Prather. Prather’s Shell Scott series reads like a slightly mellower version of Spillane’s Mike Hammer, but with a wry sense of humor. Between the luscious tomatoes and pulp violence there is quite a bit of humor in Prather’s narrative, the hard-bitten detective Shell Scott his voice. Three For the Shroud is a trio of shorter Shell Scott stories, but if you’re collecting these wildly popular books from yesteryear, don’t skip it, because it’s a blast.

Blood Ballot is the first of the stories and might be the best, but only by a hair. Shell is working for Senator Paul Hershey in this one, trying to protect him from the corrupt Blake, who is attempting to get the goods on Hershey so he can smear him in the press and make his boy a shoe-in this election. Blake plays rough, and there are two strikingly different hot tomatoes for Shell to deal with in Lorry Weston and Martita Delgado. Evidence in a safe everybody wants and a kidnapping come into play before Shell wraps this one up. Great fun.

The second tale, Dead Giveaway, is quirkier and funnier, and is also good fun. When a mousey girl named Ilona walks into Shell’s office looking for her missing husband, her story leads him to the conclusion that someone is out to kill her. Shell soon has his hands full with more than one Ilona, as he goes from girly show to girly show trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got do it. A snazzy redhead mistakes Shell for a doctor in this one and it’s hilarious! Will Shell survive the Hungarian Hurricane? Will a big inheritance turn an ugly duckling into a swan? You’ll have to read it to find out, but the middle story is not to be taken too seriously, it’s just good fun.

The third tale in the trilogy, Hot-Rock Rumble, is on a par with Blood Ballot. Shell’s trying to recover a stolen necklace from a guy’s mistress so she doesn’t start talking to his wife. She seems like jailbait to Scott, but he barely makes it out of her place with his, er, integrity intact once he meets her and experiences her charms. A little stoolie Shell knows points him to a tomato named Lois who has an entire carnival in her walk, and dresses the color of drinks — Shell can’t wait to see the champagne number. When someone turns up dead in Shell’s Caddie, however, Scott has to tackle a guy as big as a circus to avenge them, and get out from under a murder charge.

Two terrific pulp stories with a very good one sandwiched between them, it’s hard to go wrong on this one if you like Shell Scott, and why wouldn’t you? ( )