[a:Dorothy B. Hughes|80430|Dorothy B. Hughes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455297574p2/80430.jpg] can turn a phrase and keep the tension at high ebb. The Chicago swell's visit to a Santa Fe-like town in the middle of Fiesta as he hunts down "the rat" is a treat and a fine writing model.

“He didn't pay any attention to anything but the white-and-silver girl down in front. She belonged here; she was like something holy, like one of the altar candles, like an angel. He didn't pay any attention to the altar. There were priests up there chanting the litany; their white-and-gold benediction vestments draped over the red velvet chairs. There was a choir of seminarians singing. Singing the responses. Their faces were foreign like the town; brown Mexican faces, somber, and their voices, unaccompanied were like a heaven choir. He didn't care about that. He hadn't come here to pray; he'd come with a gun to keep his eye on a rat. He wasn't going to be sucked in by holiness.” ( )

[Ride the Pink Horse] by Dorothy B. Hughes. This novel was published in 1946, apparently went out-of-print. In 2021 it was republished by Otto Penzler, as an entry in his "American Mystery Classics."

The story's about a Chicago gunsel who goes by the name Sailor. He had done a job for a fellow nicknamed Sen because he had been a U.S. Senator, a corrupt one. Sen welshed on Sailor. The gunsel pursues Sen to a New Mexico town a lot like Santa Fe, where he plans to confront Sen, confident he'll get paid (even though Sailor has jacked up the price). Complicating the action are two matters. It's the town's annual Fiesta that fills every hotel and restaurant, with crowds jamming the street. Sailor can't get close to Sen, much less confront him. Moreover, a Chicago policeman called Mac (for MacIntyre) shows up, himself tailing Sen and, knowingly, trying to thwart Sailor.

In a striking departure from publishing practices in 1946, Hughes records all of Sailor's racism in a town teeming with Native Americans and hispanics. Sailor's never been outside of Chicago with its mature municipal infrastructure. So he's repelled by the unpaved streets and the lack of personal hygiene (due to the lack of a viable public water system).

I recognize Hughes' sharp eye, her character development. But reading her book was slow going. I didn't see any likable main character, anyone to root for. (Of course, it's the kind of story that shouldn't have likable characters.) Even Mac the cop got on my nerves with what Sailor called his preachy-ness. I'd rate Ride the Pink Horse "good".

I like Dorothy Hughes and I liked this book. It was nice to have a setting in a place I know. Santa Fe has, since the time frame of this book, changed Fiesta to a few weeks later. The character in the book is a Super white, who feels like he's in a foreign country. ( )

Hypnotic, dreamlike writing makes this tale of crime and revenge a book that is very difficult to put down. The more I read of Dorothy B Hughes, the more I love her books. ( )