You Only Hang Once Over A Stinger

You Only Hang Once by H. W. Roden

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've only read a few, but I can tell you that reading hard-boiled detective novels is as much about the experience as it is about the quality of the story itself. You Only Hang Once was a fine story, but the real fun came from reading a 1945 edition printed on crappy war-era paper, browning nearly an inch into each page on every side, the rest of the page yellow, the whole thing smelling of old book.

Under those conditions, suddenly the several ways of describing a woman's legs have a little extra zest, and the inevitable "Why did he have to stop to call? Oh yeah..." moments are kept to a minimum.

The private dick in this story was quite taken with a drink called a stinger, because a P.I. in a novel he had just read had drunk stingers. Funny moment, got curious about it. I was disappointed to discover it's a minty drink, but I suppose I can't knock it until I try it.

The Tipsy Texan has a review here.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 oz brandy
3/4 oz white creme de menthe

Preparation:
Pour the ingredients into an old-fashioned glass with crushed ice.
Stir well.

You can also shake the ingredients with ice cubes and strained into a chilled cocktail glass.

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