Sinners after Six

Marve Crockett is a gigolo. He enjoys the good life, having wealthy women pay his way. Marve has a secret. The last rich lady he romanced died accidentally in a way Marve is sure the police will view as a murder. He was there. Now she haunts him. Her name is Cora. Marve is having a martini in a bar as the story begins. He strikes up a conversation with the man on the next stool, a stock broker named Ed Pauling who needs some moral support, someone to accompany him as he tries to win the business of a rich man named Hobart. He offers to pay Marve money to go with him & pose as an associate. Broke, Marve accepts the job. They go to Hobart's hotel room. Ed's face is gray. Hobart is out of town but his voluptuous redheaded wife Ronica answers the door. Ronica is described as possessing “ golden smooth skin ”. Ed is too straight-laced or too stupid to read her signals, but Marve is a pro. After they leave, Marve goes back & makes love to her for four days, leaving only when her husband is due. Next Marve answers a newspaper want ad for a chauffeur & is soon working for a rich lady named Genny Acheson. Marve wants a real job but he's hungry. But Marve's motto is “ water seeks its own level ”, & it's not long before he's doing more for Genny than just driving her car. Genny wants him to spank her as she calls him “Daddy”. Genny has a wall safe filled with riches. She also has a beautiful young secretary named Grace, who “ was more beautiful than ever when she was angered & her face glowed like Genny's spanked bottom.” Marve can't get Grace out of his mind. He wants her, but he's afraid his past will catch up to him. He has a nightmare that later turns out to be the end of the book, a neat bit of foreshadowing from a masterful author. Finally he gets Grace alone in the car: “ She opened her mouth to him, waiting. He touched the sweet, warm tasting lips, felt her hot breath like all the goodness on earth. His tongue went into her mouth, beyond her teeth, deep in her throat…Knowing he could have it all, he knew she was a virgin. “Oh for hell's sake”, he says, breaking away & going back to his sordid life, unwilling to drag Grace down with him. He is robbing Genny's wall safe when, to his horror, Cora walks in.