The lenient beast (1956)

Enjoyable story of a detective and a pyschopath, but no real mystery other than how it will end. Despite the subject matter (which I won't spoil), this isn't nearly as dark as some of Brown's other mysteries such as Knock Three-One-Two or The Screaming Mimi. But he remains one of these writers whose prose is completely engaging to the point where you almost feel like a friend is telling you the story. He handles multiple viewpoints well here so that the alternating chapters don't come off as gimmicks. And the Arizona setting is pretty well evoked, particularly the heat! ( )