Ride the Pink Horse

Essential reading for mystery fans: the first masterpiece by the doyenne of American noir

Sailor, former henchman and trouble-accruing gangster, travels from Chicago to Santa Fe, New Mexico, looking for revenge and for money. But it's hard to make a dishonest buck when everything seems to be against him.

It is Fiesta, it is hot, thousands of people are crowding into town, Sailor has nowhere to stay, the odds are stacked against him - and some important and very violent people are in town, only one of whom he wants to meet.

Heat-struck and high-energy, one of Hughes' most brilliant novels, Ride the Pink Horse transplants noir to an America of vivid colours and bright sunlight, with startling results.

Dorothy B. Hughes (1904 – 1993) was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived most of her life in New Mexico. A journalist and a poet, she began publishing hard-boiled crime novels in 1940, several of which were made into successful films, including In a Lonely Place (1950). She was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.