Death Comes Last: The Rest of the 1950s

The 27 gritty stories by Brewer (1922–1983) in this superior noir collection, including one previously unpublished, are replete with betrayals and gut-punch plot twists. Brewer’s hallmark is spare prose, which nonetheless enables him to create pulse-pounding suspense in just a few pages. The exemplar is “Motive for Murder,” in which the central question is why a relative stranger, with mental health problems, is targeting a Florida man, and possibly his wife, for death. Brewer keeps the focus on the wife, whose panic over the looming, baffling threat leads her to take unneeded risks. Many other selections also feature a woman in distress, such as “Stop Off,” in which a single woman’s home is broken into by a murderer on the lam, but Brewer’s plot variations keep readers guessing as to how the dramas will play out. Fans of the pulps will hope someone picks up where Rachels leaves off and continue to make this author’s work more available. (Nov.)