The Expendable Man (37 page)

So why has she not been more celebrated? Why hasn't her work been anthologized like that of so many of her peers? Her novels are carefully crafted pieces, ahead of their time in their use of psychological suspense and their piercing observations about class and race. She was among the best and her work belongs in our canon of classic American stories. Bringing her back is no act of nostalgia; it is a gateway through which we might access her particular view of that road between our glittering versions of American life and the darker reality that waits at the end of the ride.

—W
ALTER
M
OSLEY

THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK

PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

www.nyrb.com

Copyright © 1963 by Dorothy B. Hughes

Afterword copyright © 2012 by Walter Mosley

All rights reserved.

Cover image: Tim Wright, a scoring target; © Tim Wright/CORBIS

Cover design: Katy Homans

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier printing as follows:

Hughes, Dorothy B. (Dorothy Belle), 1904–1993.

 The expendable man / by Dorothy B. Hughes ; afterword by Walter Mosley.

   p. cm. — (New York Review Books Classics)

 ISBN 978-1-59017-495-1 (alk. paper)

1. Mystery fiction. gsafd I. Title.

 PS3515.U268E96 2012

 813'.54—dc23

2011043843

ebook ISBN: 978-1-59017-509-5
v1.0

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