Evans, John - Halo in Brass (1949)

Hard boiled detective novel

Paul Pine is hired by a Nebraska couple to track down their missing daughter, Laura Fremont, who fled to Chicago and has not been heard from in over nine months.  The trail leads to a bar that covers for a sleazy brothel, several run down apartment buildings and finally a night club in Chicago.  Along the way Pine discovers a slew of girlfriends and roommates of Laura’s and two strangled women who had at one time known Fremont under one of her many aliases.  Adding to the Chandleresque plot is the search for another missing girl, Grace Rehak, who also has changed her name multiple times.  At times keeping track of who is who can be confusing.  But the story moves along and Pine – another in the line of wisecracking private eyes of the hardboiled school – is immensely likable no matter what he does and who he’s trying to get information from.  Probably notable as being one of the few mysteries of this era to attempt to deal with the taboo topic of lesbians.  Browne admits, in the foreword of this paperback reissue (Dennis McMillan, 1988), to some embarrassment in how he described the lesbian relationships.  Surprise ending for sure!  I can’t believe I fell for it considering how stereotyped he paints the lesbians as butch and femme.

J.F. Norris