Trouble Follows Me

Originally published in 1946, this book is very much of its time. The wider cultural context is that of soldiers returning from the war and figuring out what to do with themselves, which makes for an interesting backdrop. The mystery is interesting with three separate murders and a nice spy plot worked in.

But the most fascinating aspect for me was the stark race relation portrayal, told with a blunt honesty that you'd never get from a book published in the last 30 years, and yet with a sympathy toward the downtrodden that probably wasn't particularly characteristic of many books of the time. A nice piece of work.

Stopped reading about 15 pages in, when the protagonist and a few other characters started having an incredibly racist discussion. I don't need to spend time with these kinds of characters.