David Dodge, before he became famous for "It Takes A Thief," began his writing career with "Death And Taxes," the first of four novels starring a CPA in San Francisco. This book was written in 1941 an the succeeding three books in the series written in 1942 ("Shear the Black Sheep"), 1944 (Bullets for the Bridegroom"), and 1946 ("It Ain't Hay"). It took nearly a decade after publishing his first book for Dodge to become well-known as a writer and for his craft to fully develop. Dodge worked as an accountant before turning full time to writing and appropriate his first series of books feature an accountant as the unlikely protagonist.

Whitney, was a hard-drinking CPA with a strong right cross who was not going to let go of a murder case after his partner was murdered. His partner, "George MacLeod had a bankroll, a good-looking brunette wife, and a weakness for blondes. He did pretty good in both fields until he got involved with a girl with yellow hair and tax troubles." What a terrific pulpy opening to a novel! With gangsters, bootleggers, a pair of playboy-type accountants, and a mystery having to do with taxes, tax refunds, and, of course, murder, Dodge was off and running with his first novel.

The story involves a bootlegging fortune, a gorgeous blonde heiress, bullets, gunfire, and more. As others have noted, this series is not as good a read as Dodge's later series about Al Colby in Latin America, but who else would have an accountant as his hero in a hardboiled novel? ( )

Standard issue pulp from 1941. It's the first novel by a tax accountant -- your classic "I could write as well as these guys!" project -- so there is plenty of detail on the numbers side. Dodge ended up with a successful writing career, including To Catch a Thief, which ended up as a Hitchcock film. The heavy Chandler influences (not really a bad thing) fade as you get into the meat of the story. All your standard heroes, villians, and sidekicks. Both a blonde and a brunette. And a mystery that is not completely predicatable, but also doesn't feel like a cheat when revealed. ( )

http://www.david-dodge.com/novels/dat.html ( )