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In a Lonely Place
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In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes
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Publication Date: August 15, 2017
Pages: 256
Introduction by Meg Abbott
Originally published in 1947.
Postwar Los Angeles is a lonely place where the American dream is showing its seamy underside — and a strangler is preying on young women. The suggestively named Dix Steele, a cynical vet with a chip on his shoulder about the opposite sex, is the LAPD’s top suspect. Dix knows enough to watch his step, especially since his best friend is on the force, but when he meets the luscious Laurel Gray — a femme fatale with brains — something begins to crack. Tightening the suspense in taut, hard-boiled prose, Dorothy B. Hughes peels the layers of American masculinity and stunningly undoes the conventional noir plot.